


Millennia

by SergeantSarcasm7



Series: (In Other Worlds) [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Abused Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Alien Character(s), Aliens, Alternate Universe - Space, Amnesia, Angst, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders Needs a Hug, Anxious Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Blood, Body Horror, Captivity, Deceit Sanders is kind of mean, Deceit Sanders is ultimately good but also a complex character going through stuff, Dissociation, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I am really not sure what to tag so I am being extra careful, Minor Character Death, Multi, None of the main sides (LAMPDR) die, Permanent Amnesia, Some glitchy text, Swearing, The Dragon Witch is the big bad, Villain Dragon Witch, Violence, and he has a really rough time, basically Virgil is a succulent from outer space, computer languages and code, some encoded messages, space cowboy Deceit Sanders, the series will have a happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:34:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 19,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23550148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SergeantSarcasm7/pseuds/SergeantSarcasm7
Summary: Dread rose and fell into the pit of Virgil’s stomach. His whole body froze, like a rosebush in winter. Stalk dark and woody, leaves wilted and dry. Rose petals brown, falling off in a draft. A cascade of grey and faded violets, Virgil stood, rooted in place.It could have been millennia.He stared into the window behind her, he saw the stars, tiny red lights flickering in place. He wanted to cast himself back out into space, a much preferable fate than this.Trapped and forced to work for the Dragon Witch, a 'successful businesswoman' and 'universe-renowned scientist and philanthropist,' Virgil must learn how to survive and find a way to put a stop to her 'experiments.'Space au starring Virgil, a succulent from outer space. First in the series. The other sides make important appearances but this is Virgil's story above all else.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Deceit | Janus Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders
Series: (In Other Worlds) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1694953
Comments: 154
Kudos: 69





	1. 00000001

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know if I tagged everything. please mention if I need to tag anything else. Each chapter is kind of short and posted weekly. The entire story is pre written, but I have more stories in the series that I want to write while this updates. I wrote most of this before March, so before... all sorts of things. This was also written before Putting Others First and before Deceit’s name reveal, so, I’m not going to use his name yet in the series, but I have a plan don’t you worry
> 
> Thank you to delimeful for beta reading and being a huge inspiration. This fic was hella inspired by his series "sit back and watch the world go by."

00000001

While Virgil was a cascade of vibrant violets and deep and dark purples, Andy and Anton were mirages of black and grey. Andy was like a dullish evergreen. Anton was like a night sky, full of stars as his skin glittered in the light with freckles of crimson and violet. Virgil was like a sprouting zwartkop, a black rose, with bright maroon petals reaching high towards sunlight.

They lived together in a small apartment-like home on the planet Aerth. This was a temporary arrangement.

Virgil was but a small sapling compared to Andy and Anton, yet they all shared many physical traits. They were not only of the same species but were all propagated from the same being. Andy was the oldest of the three, but Anton was close to his age. Virgil was still a small sprout.

Andy was lucky. He had lived for a long time—millennia, even.

This never stopped him from worrying about death, especially since he had watched Aerth slowly become worse, more dangerous, as tensions between other species on his planet grew, and his own planet caught the eye of others.

So, it hurt, tangled the cords inside of his chest and rippled throughout his body—it hurt that he knew that Virgil was not so lucky. That the conflicts of this beautiful planet would consume them both.

Anton entered their home loudly, interrupting Andy’s thoughts, and Virgil trailed in behind him. Virgil’s hand was wrapped around one of Anton’s fingers—oh Virgil was so small, and Andy felt like he was buzzing. Virgil looked up at Anton, scrunching his face, silently communicating with him, talking about his day.

Virgil glanced around the home, and his face lit up when he saw Andy. He untangled his hand from Anton’s, tiny roots flying off into the air as they detached, and Virgil jumped into Andy’s arms.

Virgil, excited to talk about his day, could not speak his thoughts aloud. Instead, he communicated so many buzzing thoughts, sensations, and feelings directly to Andy, through the little roots that sprouted from across his body.

It was all over the place, quite literally, because Virgil was determined to cram everything he had learned that day through the tiny roots that sprung from his arms and head. Andy laughed, amused by his excitement—this small little thing was explaining this all to him like it was a new scientific discovery. Andy could not remember the time when the world was so exciting.

Andy cradled Virgil in his arms, but when he looked back up at Anton, he did not need any signal from him to see the dreaded news twirling in his eyes. Andy tensed, holding Virgil in his arms tighter. Anton looked down at Andy sadly, placed a hand on his shoulder.

Andy was careful to not let the sadness seep through the many different connections he shared with Virgil. Yet all of Virgil’s new and exciting discoveries, his stories about the plants and the sky and the earth and his new friends, made him feel even worse—because he knew that he would have to leave them all behind. There were so many vines and flowers and bushes and people that he had known for many years—he had watched them grow and change and learn and discover new songs and words—but all that progress would soon be lost.

>>How long do we have here now? How much can we bring with us?

And maybe Andy had never been lucky. The constant migration, moving from place to place, he had to endure to ensure he stayed alive felt like a constant ache in his chest. Many people had to stay rooted in one place, and thus could not travel Aerth and survive like he could, but that could not stop the pain of leaving from tearing out his insides.

<<One labay

And that was urgent. Andy felt along the top of Virgil’s head, gently touching the small plants growing there. He ran his fingers through the trailing vines that fell over one of his eyes, purple pea-like leaves grew from the stems. He watched as tiny violet flowers glowed and buzzed, singing songs into Virgil’s ear.

They did not have much time to pack things, take seeds and cuttings of their favorite plants, but he would try, for Virgil’s sake. Virgil had grown rather attached to everyone in the neighborhood here.

>>One of these days there will be nowhere left to run to.

Andy took a moment to tune back into Virgil’s excited ramblings. He let himself picture the soft blue sky full of violet clouds. ‘that’s me,’ Virgil had said.

Andy could see through Virgil’s eyes as he ran through the field, chasing his friends in a game of tag. He could feel the excitement and joy spilling from Virgil in waves, but it slowly dimmed into a content warmth as Virgil began to doze.

Andy’s limbs felt rooted to his chair. His woody vines hardly paid attention to him. Veins flowed languidly, lulling his eyes downward, half-lidded. Tired.

He grasped Anton’s hand on his shoulder, squeezed it, before dozing as well. Anton slowly detached his hand and began to pack their things.


	2. 00000010

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thousands of years into the future, Wikipedia is still a thing apparently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is pretty short. Between posting this here and on tumblr (@thesarcasticside), I had to figure out quite a bit of html to format it the way I want to. I hope ya'll appreciate my creativity.

**00000010**

###  **Anxietaceae**

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**Anxietaceae** is a small family of flowering electroplanta beings found on the planet Aerth. The family includes a small number of known species. Most members of the family can shift their shape to resemble the structures of other alien species, such as forming a humanoid-shaped body with a head, torso, legs, and arms.

A distinct characteristic of this family is the symbiotic relationships with other plants from Aerth, such as having flower-like vines growing on top of their body.

##### Contents [hide]

1 History

2 Characteristics

3 Ecology

4 Uses

5 Notable persons

6 See also

7 References

8 Further reading

9 External links

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, super short. I have a couple more like this one, not back to back of course.
> 
> If you enjoyed reading, please leave a comment. If you don't know what to say, comment your favorite Sander Sides episode. Or favorite joke (from Sander Sides or in general). Or favorite color of flower. (Just fun suggestions)
> 
> If you feel like it, visit me @thesarcasticside on tumblr. I wanna be cool and answer people's asks.


	3. 00000011

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fly me to the moon  
> Let me play among the stars  
> Let me see what spring is like  
> On a, Jupiter and Mars....  
> In other worlds.........

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: minor character death(s), smoke, fire, explosion, destruction, if there is anything I should also mention please say so.

00000011

Jagged hills of baby blue and soft violet streaked across the sky, a fog of low hanging clouds blended together like mixing paints. Soft tiny purple flowers, a vast and dense ground cover, gently shivered in the small breeze.

Virgil laid down amongst them as he watched small currents of electricity travel between them. He touched one of the petals and saw a bright blue erupt from the center, a glittery glow that sounded like starlight. The soft hum of the flowers around him was a song. Virgil calmly breathed, letting the starlight absorb into his skin.

The world looked so vast and huge—

—A vomit inducing smell, smoke, met his nose, and Virgil sprouted from the flowers. The music shook, like violin strings, and then suddenly stopped as Virgil jumped from his resting place. As he ran, his large ears shook and wiggled, as small root-like strings sunk back into them. Lightning stretched from his back, following him like a flag in a storm, and his feet left the ground.

“Virgil! Virgil! Where are you!?” Andy called, and Virgil burst into his arms.

>>I am here, I am here— 

<< Leave, we Mus Tleave d̶̟̓̒ḁ̶̛͉̃̑̓n̵̝̺̰̲̄͗̈̽͠g̴͕̟̭̪̐̎̉̚ͅe̶̛͕̓͛̋̋r̷̠͈̰͓͠d̶͍̺̄́́a̶̛̤̙̲͚̺n̴̳͎̤̺͆̃̊̂̕g̸̪̼̹͎͇͆̾̅͛e̷̢̤̙̗͍͂͆̾ȓ̸̨̯̟̥ṍ̴̢̆u̴̗͖̒̕s̵̨̢̛͚̘̍̈́̽͝ ̸̘̈́͛̿͑͘a̵͈̠̙͍̓̾͑͜͝n̷̳̂̌̍͊d̸͔̄̄͂͋ ̵̳̱̼̽̒́̄͠WE must g0 ̵̘̎R̵̎rU̸̲͒̓N̵̨̞̪͒̈́̓͋,̴̧̳̘̍͛̂ ̶̛̞̩͌͌̉ ŗ̸̬͈͓̗͙̠͆̿̀̋̄͊͊̓̒̈̂̽̚û̴͔̪̜̹̀n̷̬͍̹͈͔͇͙̔̂͒̈͑̍̋̿͐́n̷̘̬̹̠̼̬͓͉̼̼̲̲̲͇̋͂̐̆͋͜ỉ̶̡̹̜̪̙͉̦̖̓͠ń̴̛͙̼̔̕͝ğ̶̢̯͚̯̇͋͗͆̇̊,̸̗͖͉̱̟͍͎̣̼͖̲̓͊̅̉͘͝ ̷̜̘͈̭̬͔̭̻̞͍̣̯̹̲̎̽̊̀̊̚̚͝ị̷̧̖͖̪̺̀̈́́̋͠ṯ̸͚̠̝͐̂͛͊͑͝ ̶̛̱͆̈́̈́̃̊̀̽͂̓̂̕i̴͔̻͈̺̖̻͊͜s̵̨̢̞̙͙͇̼̱̥͎̹͙̰̄͜ ̸͍̦͎̅͗̿̑͌͛t̸̛̳̩͈̟̱̥̠͖̰̪̔̀̊̈́̒̅̑̇̏̔͊́̓̀ͅĭ̶̡̳̣̞̙̪̥̭͓͙͓͉̽m̸̢̨̡̰̱̥̺̳̖̙̪͓̝̲̑̀͑̂̃͋̃͘̚e̵̹̹͇̠̟̙̭͇͇̤͂̃̆̈́̄̽̑͗̾͊͑͘̕ ̸̡͉̤̟̻͖̼̰̎̃̄͠t̷̩̻̝͚͉̠͈̻͙̖̗͇̃̂̓͒̀̈́̄̆̽ͅȟ̷̡̫̙͎̖̖̬̫̎͒̃͗̅̇̐̃̿̍͜͝͝e̵̡̯̝̫̱̬̹̩̙̘̚y̴̥̗͚̬͔̙̎͌a̸̛̙͇̻̻̍̔́̓͌̑̉͛̑̄̽͗r̸͈͐̑̃̄ê̶̼͈̺̞̜͕͍̬̘̥̈ͅh̷̛͓̗͓͚̱̖̓̂͋͋̌͗̈́̋̈́̋̌̔e̷̖̦̼̥͖̾̑͛͑͘r̵̛̠͌̊̅͐̒́̏̉̿͊̚é̶̝͉̬̤̺̲̣͚̲͗͌̔̕͝ — 

Virgil could feel electricity at his shaking fingertips, he held Andy’s face in his hands. His eyes, normally encased in a violet scarlet, were covered in a white mist, and Virgil looked down—he saw the Aerth rapidly shrinking below him, and he felt something wet soak into his clothes.

Smoke enveloped his chest as it spread to everywhere—the Aerth was unbearably red, orange, and hot. Virgil could not describe, could not imagine, what it was, what was happening, he could only hear we must leave it is dangerous we must run and fly and escape they are here and they are here shit—

And he was falling.

The wind and the smoke shoved past him. He cried out as the lightning at his back did nothing to stop their fall. Virgil was trying, oh he was trying, to wake up Andy, but nothing was working. He screamed through their connection, but nothing was working.

They were caught in the air by Anton, and Virgil was relieved that he was talking to him with much more sense than Andy, but he was also shaking, and not sending him things.

>>Anton, Anton—

<<Virgil, I am so sorry— 

And Virgil began to shake because Andy stopped sending him things. Virgil held his head in his hands, wilted as a leaf. He felt nothing but the remnants of signals from him, inanimate.

“Virgil, we must keep moving.” Anton called aloud, and Virgil kept sobbing.

They left Andy there.

Virgil’s chest compulsed rapidly, sharp sinusoidal waves. He buried his face into Anton’s chest as Anton ran—flew—both of them to wherever—to somewhere—to off-world.

Virgil peeked out at his home. He did not recognize it. He held his head over Anton’s shoulder and watched the world go by. Everything was red, covered in smoke.

Crackles and booms stomped onto the ground, launching shrapnel into the air as they kept moving, fleeing, further and further away—but it kept following them, the fire. Virgil could not fathom where it could not follow them.

Virgil was so small; the world felt so huge—and it was imploding.

And there was not much else that Virgil remembered from that day, but Virgil had known for the longest time that he left the planet alone.

Virgil, as he floated through space aimlessly in a pod, found emptiness inside him. A hole surrounded by shards and cracked glass shook him to his core. He watched from his pod, unnoticeable like a lone asteroid as Aerth burned.

The last he saw of it was a red dot in the distance as his life dragged him elsewhere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you feel like it, visit me @thesarcasticside on tumblr. I wanna be cool and answer people's asks.


	4. 00000100

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Don't you hate it when you are searching online for articles for a paper or something and you can't even access the full article because your university is not subscribed to whatever random website you found it on and you aren't willing to pay like 10 bucks for it like gosh how am I supposed to write my report on Aerth now?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characters: no one mentioned specifically  
> Warnings: mention of war, poaching, smuggling, in a sort of academic paper sort of way

00000100

**History and developments of environmental protection on Aerth: How war, economics, and technology have changed the perspectives on personhood and value of anomalous alien species**

**Abstract**

The planet Aerth was named by early humans when the planet was discovered soon after intergalactic space travel became feasible. It was nicknamed “Aerth” by combining the name of the human home planet Earth and the human word for aesthetic (from the human language English). The nickname has since remained as the common name for this planet.

The early humans thought the planet resembled their own due to the prominent number of “plant-like” beings. Many early accounts of the planet described it as “beautiful,” but humans were initially careful to avoid contact with the planet to avoid destroying its ecosystem. Early humans had a history of introducing different animal species from different ecosystems on Earth which resulted in the balance of such ecosystems to be destroyed.

The human scientists that studied the planet have long since discovered that on Aerth are many different species of electroplanta beings. Although the concepts of “plant” and “electronics” inaccurately described the fundamental biology of the planet’s inhabitants, the words remain to be the most accurate descriptors in human language.

In recent years, the planet Aerth has been mostly destroyed. Some islands and small continents are still habitable and some electroplanta have continued to survive. The scarcity of life on the planet, coupled with their usefulness in technology and electronics, has made the inhabitants of the planet extremely valuable on the DarkMarket, even though the smuggling and poaching of the species from Aerth has been made illegal by the TSUU.

Subscribe to the Universe-PLANETARY Journal to read the full article.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There won't be chapters like this again for a while. I like it when stories are told through newspaper clippings and such sometimes. Thought I would incorporate that! :)
> 
> If you feel like it, visit me @thesarcasticside on tumblr. I wanna be cool and answer people's asks.


	5. 00000101

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome aboard, Virgil.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: being treated like a machine, starvation, dehydration, desperation, blood, violence, abuse, body horror, if I missed anything please mention it.

00000101

Virgil felt cold. Surrounded by the vacuum of space, completely alone, with a countdown clock trickling down in front of him. His entire body was put on hold, tense like tied knots, suspended in the air.

He was floating; he was falling; he was hanging. His body felt tingling all over. Despite the emptiness of the tiny little ship he was in, everything felt loud and bright, the glowing lights of the buttons burning his sensors.

It could have been millennia.

Despite how his eyes, a bright violet-magenta, were wide open, he did not see the large, bulky ship approach him. He felt the ship rumble, throwing him around his confined space—

—He looked up, a flash of brown, then he was held up by the neck. Something held him in the air like a weed fresh from the ground with its roots dangling and clinging to dirt. If they saw him squirming, squealing, they did not care to notice.

“Ew, what is it?”

They shined a gun at him, and Virgil was blinded, his senses overloaded by signals, piercing noises that made absolutely no sense at all.

“Says it’s a comp”

“Throw it with the automations” a deep gruff voice said. Or at least that was the gist of it. This was a very thick dialect of Common, one meant for trading. Virgil did not know what it meant at first, but it would not be long until those words were drilled into him, each syllable a screw through flesh.

“What’s it got on it?” someone else said, several more bolts. “Eh, doesn’t matter.” And then they nailed something into his chest; it burned and stung and—

The acceleration slammed into his chest as he was carried by the neck. All he could see was browns and reds and grey and red and silver and bronze and then he hit the floor. He heard a door slam shut. Left in darkness, his only condolences were small twinkling lights, a mockery of stars.

For a moment, he thought he had imagined the past minutes, like a dream. Was he back in space?

He was not. One of his limbs was grabbed by a cold, metal claw. Virgil prodded with his roots, still hopeful.

<<MOV A1 #ANX 

And he was off, dragged away in the dark: his only illumination were the LEDs blinking around him.

He felt cold. This. This thing carrying him felt wrong. He was sending him things, yes, but it was empty. It was missing something.

And he missed Anton and Andy. He missed his friends. He missed the flowers, the violets, the roses, the geranium. They sent him things: something he could not quite identify, but he certainly noticed the absence.

He was sat down at a station and given a set of instructions.

He tried to talk to more of these ‘automations,’ but all he got were instructions.

He felt alone—

—He did not have anything to compare this feeling to. He felt like he was condensing, shrinking, like the automation room walls were closing in on him.

How long had he been at this station? He had been following instructions. After each line of code followed another. Everything felt the same. Felt repetitive. With each repeating action, the harder it was to focus. He had to focus.

He was alone in the darkness.

He kept asking the automations things.

He kept asking:

>>When can I go home? 

No response.

>>When can I go home? 

No response.

In the darkness, Virgil could only see the blinking red lights on the machine he had connected to.

>>When can I go home? 

<< IF PRODUCTIVITY(ANX) == 0 { 

<< REMOVE() 

<< } ELSE { 

<< GIVE_INSTRUCTION() 

<< } 

Virgil immediately let go and rapidly typed at his station.

Fans roared in his hearing. He was shaking. It was so cold in here because of the fans. He hated the sound of them. They sounded like dull, lifeless thunder—a storm without rain. Merciless storm clouds.

He kept typing. 

His whole body was shaking. Sinusoidal, rapid interference. This feeling, it kept building.

He kept typing until…

Desperation. Escape. He had to leave. He needed to leave. He needed he needed light and water and air and oh he did not know why how he was feeling so desperate he needed to go he had never felt so much pain before.

His mind was screaming.

His mind felt like sound. A series of waves, roaring further and further away.

He stopped typing.

He saw red lights flashing at him—

—Before him was a pile.

His limbs, his hands, his claws, felt wet. In the darkness of the automation lab, he could not see what the wetness was. He licked them, tasting his own blood—but was it really blood? That was a human thing, wasn’t it? He was not a human. Not even close. He was hissing, pain seeping into the vines of his limbs and tingling throughout his body. He was cut and scratched.

He felt the pile before him. It used to be—He thought, he thought that he he could he needed he needed he

He needed water. He needed soil. He needed current and voltage. So, he tore his neighbor apart for it and found nothing.

Virgil, his thoughts were wrong, clouded by something like fire that streamed through his whole body.

He collapsed onto the pile. He searched for anything. Anything at all he could eat or drink, but he found nothing. He crawled on the floor, searching. He felt more wires and nuts and bolts sharp bits of metal that cut into his hands.

He navigated the room. He did not have light to guide him, so he used his other senses. He was careful to not touch the other machines as much as possible. One of them might put him back at his station.

Virgil needed to find some hole, some crack he could slip through. He found a vent.

He crawled. He still could see nothing. He felt the walls, prodding with roots. He got no signals. He kept going until he smelt fresh air. He smelt something new. He did not think to leave the vent quietly, but he still slowly lowered himself to the ground. It hurt so much, holding his body weight. He fell down part of the way. Before, he had not noticed the dim light in the room, but now he felt overwhelmed. He looked up at the lights in the room. They were emitting the right light. The light he needed to survive.

He looked around; he saw something on the table on a plate. He shoved it in his mouth.

He heard a door open behind him. He froze—

—As the slim, tall figure held him up, dangled him in the air, he heard her say “ew, what crawled onto the ship this time?”

And the figure looked at him closer, but Virgil could not see what it looked like. He would later learn her name. “Oh, it’s one of those Aerthians.” She looked up at the vent. “Must have crawled out of a vent for food.”

She pulled him up and he looked directly at her eyes. They were red and dark blue.

“You work for me now, little one. Next time try finding your scraps somewhere else. Back to the automation room you go.” Her voice was sharp and abrasive.

And Virgil screamed. A gargling squeal. He burst into lightning, he used up all the energy he had, trying to get away. He wanted to go home.

The woman threw him at the wall.

He slid down, limp on the ground.

She kicked him.

And he was thrown back into darkness—

—He only had himself. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone is enjoying my coding bs, which is roughly based off my knowledge of Assembly and C++
> 
> If you feel like it, visit me @thesarcasticside on tumblr. I wanna be cool and answer people's asks.


	6. 00000110

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil makes a friend...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: imprisonment, smuggling, mention of harvesting from a person, body horror

00000110

Virgil had a routine.

He had some access to the ship. He had access to its computer systems. Part of him wondered, why couldn’t he hack it? Take it over? Fly the ship wherever he wanted, to home maybe. He did not know how.

He had access to the entire ship, all of its computer systems, but he did not know how to do what he wanted with it.

He spent days, labays, weeks at a time, trying to figure out these ‘human’ computers. They were human computers, he thought. They said human. They sent him human things.

Of course, the word human did not mean much nowadays. It is a vague term, like what kind of human are you talking about? Many other aliens used human technology also.

That figure he met once; she was the leader of the ship. He saw her name everywhere, but only in the deepest parts of everywhere. You had to look for her name. Added security, he supposed.

There were all sorts of people on this ship. He had never met any of them, but he knew them. He knew their likes, dislikes, work schedules. He knew about everyone; he dug for it.

He knew that the cooks were superstitious. They did not trust the human technology. They left him offerings because they thought the kitchen was haunted by a computer ghost that haunted their stove.

He knew when the guards rotated. He knew when rooms were empty. He knew when people left on the lights because he would travel to those empty rooms and bask in the light for as long as he could.

He knew where they kept the water. The water was carefully monitored. He had to be very careful when he stole water.

He knew things. He was constantly being watched by her. He did not know why she was so interested in him, or why she did not stop him. He did not know but he thought she knew the computers better than he did—he couldn’t be doing all this under her nose without her knowing.

He stepped around the pile. He hated the pile. It reminded him of his first few weeks being here, before he knew how to navigate. To get food and water and survive. He was like a rat on this ship, but he was also part of its framework.

He had not explored the entire ship. There were many places he was scared to wander. Today he was going to one of those places because they just logged in a new prisoner.

There was this ache in his chest that had not gone away yet. He had eaten food, had water, had light. As much as he could safely get anyway. But he was alone. He wanted to talk to someone.

He knew he could not talk to any of the ship’s regular passengers. Perhaps a prisoner would be easier to talk to.

The dungeon of the ship was grey and cold. He slowly descended from the ceiling like a spider.

“Hello,” he hoped he said. His voice was deep and ragged, but he could only speak in a whisper. Common was difficult for him to speak.

She jumped. She was small, like him. She was pale, hair white and sprawled across her body. She wore white as well. She lifted her head and turned to him; her eyes encased in white. She had no irises.

“Who’s there?” She spoke in a different language. Virgil could not understand her. He reached into the cage she sat in slowly. The moment a root touched her, she jumped against the back wall.

She could not see him.

He sighed. This was pointless. He would need to get back to his station. Maybe he would be able to figure out more on what language she spoke. He should have been prepared for this.

He visited her again.

He had researched as much as he could. This ship was not connected to any sort of internet. If he tried to communicate with other ships, he would be noticed. There were too many hoops to go through, like the whole ship was wired to be unnoticeable and untraceable. At least the ship had a translator program installed. It was unbelievably old and out of date.

They ‘found’ the prisoner on an old human colony. It used to be one, anyway. They took her because her skin was some sort of alloy; it made little sense to Virgil, but the gist was that her skin was valuable. He did not know what they intended to do to her, but the term harvestable was in her very sparse profile.

He did not want to think about it. He did not want to picture them peeling off her skin. The image seared into his mind anyway.

He took an educated guess on what language she spoke and downloaded it. Some of it anyway. It would take too long to completely learn it. He did not have any time to practice speaking it.

He visited her again.

“Hello,” he said in what he hoped was her language.

She turned to the front bars of the cage. She opened her mouth to speak, her bottom lip trembling.

“Hi,” she said.

“My name is Virgil, what is yours?”

“Lova” It was difficult to hear her. He was not sure if that was her name or if he heard it wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm @thesarcasticside on tumblr :)


	7. 00000111

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They took his friend away...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Harm to child, dehumanization, forced medical treatment, traumatic skin injury, body horror

00000111

He believed they were friends. He at least hoped they were friends. They played games together. She was much younger than him, but they had fun.

It was difficult communicating with her. He tried to explain what he was to her; what he looked like.

He had some ability to connect with humans, but they were so different from him that he had a very difficult time sending them connections. They were not electronic at all (unless they were, but that was not really what their minds were made of), so that made it much more difficult to send them signals. They were not plant-like at all either.

He basically had to figure out how to translate his signals to whatever their brains did to store information. Yet it was even more difficult in Lova’s case because she had been blind since she was born, and thus he could not send her any visual information.

His ability to speak her language and understand it was limited also.

Yet just being in her presence was enough. They were both terrified of this ship, but they were no longer alone.

He travelled to her cage one day, and she was not there.

It was as if everything in his body stopped moving.

Where did they take her?

Did they—did they—

And then he had to hide. Guards entered the room and he hid in the shadows. He closed his eyes, stopping any sort of light that might shine through the darkness. He listened as they got louder, closer.

He heard Lova.

He heard her cage open and close. Silence followed their footsteps out of the room.

He discovered recently he could transform his body, make it thin, tall, and flat. He could slip inside her cage.

Lying on the floor, her body was writhing. He gently lifted her head onto his lap and all he could hear from her was

<< I want to go home, Virgil.

Her hair was gone. Her body was covered in bandages. He could not see an inch of her skin, only her eyes. He felt sick.

He had to take her home.

He had to try.


	8. 00001000

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A. General  
> 1\. Basic Requirements  
> The basic requirements as defined in R̴u̶l̴ ̷3̴6̶8̷ must be met for Launch and Approval of for Intergalactic Travel. The number of R̴̨̜̯̬̤̦͖͖̤̠͐̇̌̃́̾̏̃̄̔̓̃̚̕͜ͅA̷̡̡̡̲̠̬̥̬̲̠̻̮̯̼̭͓̭̽̈́̓̾̆̈́̀̃̕͘F̶̘͚̂͒̉͗̆̑̊̌̊͌̈́͑͋́̚̚͝͝͝Ţ̶̯̗͂̔́̂̍̌͛̔̊͒̽͜S̷̲̹̟͉̼̹̫̻̥̯̼̻̠͚̪̳͛̋̎͠ͅ ̴̛͎͔͔͒͂̽͋̈́̿̾̓̃ͅon each side of the ship must be c̸a̴p̴a̷b̷l̷e̵ of accommodating a̷t̸ ̵l̵e̴a̴s̶t̸ ̵5̶0̵%̷ ̵o̷f̶ ̵t̷h̷e̸ ̷c̵a̷r̸r̵y̷i̵n̷g̶ ̷c̷a̴p̶a̴c̴i̵t̷y̸ ̸o̵f̶ ̷r̷e̴g̷i̵s̸t̵e̷r̷e̴d̵ ̶s̵e̵n̵t̶i̵e̴n̸t̵ ̷l̵i̴f̸e̷f̵o̶r̶m̷s̷.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Violence, Swearing, F-bomb dropped, Verbal Abuse

00001000

Virgil had known about the RAFTs for a long time. Those were the first things he searched for.

Yet they were guarded. Their access was heavily restricted. Unlocking their storage unit was challenging enough, but overriding their protocols so that he would be able to launch himself out in one? Near impossible.

So, he researched. He prodded. He dug. He was at his station for a long time. He could only visit Lova for mere minutes at a time. She was incoherent. Virgil should have visited her for longer, more often.

He was not sure if this program was going to work. It was not like he could test it. He read the finished code over and over. He looked at each character, each digit, repeatedly. He had to try.

He should not have, he learned later.

First instruction: take Lova out of her cage undetected. Easy. Very simple to get the combination.

Second instruction: Carry Lova and transport her to the RAFT unit. Difficult. He had to time it perfectly, to avoid any guards or crew. He had to drag her the whole way there. He had lifted her on a cloth and tugged on it.

Third instruction: Use the program to open the RAFT unit. He held perfectly still, waiting for it to work. He would not know what would happen if it worked.

The door opened. He looked at all the RAFTs. He dragged Lova to the first one. He used his program to open the door. It felt like hours before the door finally opened and—

—She was there, sitting cross-legged in the pilot’s seat.

She had big, curly white hair. Her eyes were narrow, full of shadow.

Dei’dra.

Dread rose and fell into the pit of Virgil’s stomach. His whole body froze, like a rosebush in winter. Stalk dark and woody, leaves wilted and dry. Rose petals brown, falling off in a draft. A cascade of grey and faded violets, Virgil stood, rooted in place.

It could have been millennia.

He stared into the window behind her, he saw the stars, tiny red lights flickering in place. He wanted to cast himself in fire, a much preferable fate than this.

She tilted her head, her shoulders shimmied slowly, like she was dancing. She lifted her gloved hand in the air, the black silk delicately flowing down her arms to her elbow.

“Hey there, little thing. Whatcha got there? Did you make a little friend?” Her dollish drawl scrawled in the air.

Virgil choked.

“What are you doing out of your room this late?”

He could no longer look at her. Virgil did not say anything.

Her arm swiped out, tearing him up through the air. She scowled. He looked into her eyes; they were green now. It poured into his memories like acid. Her gloved hand gripped him tightly. The pain shot through him, consuming his thoughts.

She kicked Lova out of her way before dropping Virgil in the center of the room. He hit the ground hard.

“I let you roam my ship freely like a fucking house cat and this is what I get in return?”

She kicked him in the head. The world faded around in darkness, buzzing like television static.

“You Aerthians… You pathetic little things. All you’re good for is plugging in numbers.”

Virgil, despite the rest of the room fading out of sight beyond him, focused on every little movement, every little sound of Dei’dra. Pain shot up one of his limbs as he felt her heel stab into it.

“If you weren’t such an efficient little prick, I would have thrown you back out into space a long while ago”

It did not occur to Virgil that he was the most efficient automation in the automation room until much later.

Virgil did not know where the new burst of pain came from, but he screamed out regardless.

It could have been. It could have been millennia.

Finally, oh thank god finally, she said, “Poor little thing. Back to the automation room you go.”

He never saw Lova again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really hectic past couple weeks
> 
> Check out my tumblr @thesarcasticside


	9. 00001001

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gross

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Swearing, F-bomb dropped, gross living conditions

00001001

“We’re moving up in the world, boyz” Virgil watched Dei’dra announce to the entire ship.

The ship was falling apart at the seams. It was about time for an upgrade.

The automation room was flooded in light.

“Oh, my fucking god, it’s a garbage heap in here!” He heard a man saying. He had no time to adjust to the light. He did not know that the automation room even had any lights. His sensors were burning.

He tried to focus, he tried to see what was happening.

“Boss said to bring in the nastiest looking one to her office. Don’t really get why.”

“Think it’s this one?” He felt something poke his head. He still couldn’t see.

“Oh, it’s gotta be. What’s it got growing on it?”

“No clue, good thing we’re wearing masks.”

They roughly tore Virgil out of his station. He felt roots and vines and veins breaking apart.

“I’m gonna head up. You sort through the newer ones. Probably not many worth keeping.”

“Aw gross, what happened to this one?”

And that was the last he saw of the automation room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out my tumblr @thesarcasticside


	10. 00001010

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil Leaves The Ship But Not Her

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Swearing, fearing for one’s life, non-human non-sexual nakedness mention--basically taking a shower but feeling insecure about themselves, dehumanization/depersonization, minor body horror, verbal abuse and threats, basically threatening and forcing someone to work  
> I do not know if I wrote the warnings properly, so if should mention anything, please say so

00001010

The large alien man that carried Virgil looked similar enough to Dei’dra for Virgil to conclude that they were of the same species. Otherwise, Virgil did not recognize him. He must not have been an employee of Dei’dra, some new hired hand, or a hire so recent he was not in the books yet.

He had large, black colored eyes. He had dark crimson scales that spread across what looked like his entire body. (Virgil did not want to know whether that was true). He wore a large suit, or maybe robe. Virgil guessed he was around ten feet tall from the distance between his feet and the ground.

They kept climbing higher. They traveled to parts of the ship he had only seen about once or twice. And parts of the ship that were too far away to sneak into and not be missed in the automation room.

Eventually, there was a large door he had only seen from his station. The main exit.

He was taking him off the ship.

Tense, Virgil nearly squirmed in the man’s grip. He did not though, that could cause him injury. Virgil, despite how much he hated the ship, he could not imagine leaving it. Not now, not anymore.

The door opened and Virgil, instead of meeting the cold vacuum of space, was met with a completely new sight.

The planet was red. They were in a large dome. Pristine white buildings with large windows that sat in a neat grid. Everything looked the same, the same age, the same incomprehensibly tall height, as if everything blinked into existence at the same time. Beyond the transparent barrier was a vast desert. He could see the orange horizon, jagged clouds pinned across the velvet. Dark black shadows settled below orange cliffs. Directly above his head, an orange sun burned.

He was led inside one of those buildings. They kept climbing upwards. Virgil wondered if Dei’dra was finally going to kill him. Maybe all these years she had been waiting to find the tallest structure she could find to throw him off of. Not what he expected, but Virgil dreaded his fate just the same. Virgil numbly watched the rooms go by as they climbed the air, counting.

They reached the highest floor in the building. The room was unbearably white. He was dropped onto the ground and the alien man sunk down behind him.

He felt exposed. He looked down at his limbs. The woody appendages were a deep dark grey. He could still see an undertone of violet, but only he would notice that. The contrast between himself and the room was frightening. He waited.

“Ew, what’s that shit all over you?” He had zoned out, but he was woken up when he was nudged—well, kicked really—by a foot. His head shot up, alarmed. Dei’dra. He could not help that his whole body was shaking.

“Yeah, yeah, take this down to maintenance and hose it down or something.” Dei’dra talked into her earpiece. “Is it waterproof? Ah, yeah, ‘would sure think so.” Ending the call, she then said to herself, “Maybe this time we’ll finally get a proper computer lab. I’d hate to see what sort of mess the automation room was. Probably reeked or something.”

Virgil’s feeling of intrusion only grew as Dei’dra talked like she was alone, by herself, as if he was just some paperweight sitting on a shelf.

Eventually, Virgil was escorted to a sectioned off room a few floors below. It was white, pristine, and lifeless. Virgil, after being plopped onto the floor, stood up in front of a floor to ceiling mirror.

He did not expect to not recognize himself; at first, he thought there was someone else in the room. Then he recognized the dull purple of his skin and concluded that he really did look like that.

He was an unorganized mess. His body was arranged in a haphazard way. No wonder nobody recognized him as a person.

He was a clump of trailing vines, glowing eyes, lanky limbs. He twirled around, counting his several arms and legs. It was like someone planted a blackberry bush somewhere and left it to its own devices.

He looked at where his chest would be and saw a large metal device that jutted out of his skin. Marred, gnarled, the tissue was deformed and sunk inward, like the device sunk a hole into his body. He could see most of it, but many vines had grown over it. It felt larger on the inside, like he could feel much more than what was visible.

Just the sight of it filled him with dread. They would always know where he was. This tracker might as well have been a part of him. He knew it better than most other body parts, he had prodded at it compulsively for years.

It was stabbed into a very inconvenient place, and if he tried to remove it, he feared he would spill out. It had invaded his body like a virus. He could speak to it like he could with a cancerous tumor.

Shifting his focus from the tracker, he decided that while he was here, he should shift his body to look not so ragged.

First, the shower. It was heavenly and unbearably hot. He watched as the water soaked the dust away. He watched dead leaves pool at his feet. He watched the charcoal sink into the drain.

He stepped out of the shower and looked at himself again. His nakedness made him feel utterly vulnerable, as if the dirt that caked on his skin had clothed him before.

What should he look like? He tried to remember what Anton or Andy looked like, but the memory was so faint, it felt like corrupted data.

He thought of the automations. He thought of Dei’dra. Maybe if he looked more like them, they would like him more?

He needed a face. He had eyes. He had a mouth. He just needed to mold, sculpt his head into something that resembled a face.

He thought of Lova; he could not remember her face, only the long mouthless, noseless wrapping of bandages. The dark wet petals below her wide white eyes.

He had a troubling time creating himself a face. He looked more like the automations, the robots, the machines than the humanoid aliens he had encountered over the years. He did not have much of a mouth or nose. He had large glowing eyes, much too big to resemble a human’s.

He had a troubling time creating himself a body. He had little mass, little malleable new growth that could be easily shaped and pruned. He tried to stretch himself, lengthen himself. Instead of a clump of peas and vines, he was a tall stalk, like a dying plant trying to grow towards sunlight.

He touched the mirror screen. He picked himself out some clothes. Very simple, baggy garments. The dark evergreen jacket made him think of Andy.

He looked at himself in the mirror. He felt even less recognizable. He felt like the shower washed off parts of him. Good and bad ones. Good ones that reminded him of home.

Despite being alone, he felt like he was being watched.

He exited the cleaning station.

“Aren’t you cute in your little hoodie and clothes. You almost look like a person” Dei’dra said when he was escorted back to her office.

He began to wonder if there was truth in that. He began to wonder if maybe he was wrong to think he deserved better than this.

It was this faint realization, distant in his mind, unacknowledgeable.

Before on the ship, there was this anger, like that feeling he felt when he was desperate for air. That he was being treated unfairly. Like he was not some machine. Not some rat.

Yet after seeing the lies in that mirror, he wondered if they were right. He was not like them, no matter how much he tried.

He only looked up at her, waiting for her to continue. She snarled at him; probably was supposed to look like a smile.

“I think we got off on the wrong foot, little one.” Her voice was sickly sweet, like whistling air that rumbled in the wind.

Virgil did not say anything. He never said anything to her. The thought of his humiliatingly gruff Common meeting her ears filled him with dread. Just the sound of it would make her want to kill him.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if you hated my guts… but sorry love, that’s just how the universe works.

“You’re just a worthless little weed that decided it was going to be special and survive.”

Virgil was scared to figure out where this one-sided conversation was going.

“I’m going to give you a choice. It’ll be the last one you get to make.

“Either, you work for me without any complaint, and I’ll let you live a bit more comfortably than you do now—or you see that desert out there? I’ll let you go. If you choose that, good luck, little one.”

He did not reply. He did not know what to say. Did she really mean that he had a choice, or was it rhetorical?

“Why are you fucking hesitating? You got a death wish or not? Trust me, either you’ll be getting the sweet release of death or a cushy desk job as my personal assistant. Both are fucking good options.”

Oh, how was he supposed to answer her—without speaking, anyway.

Oh-oh-oh, she was going to throw him out the window.

Or worse she would—

—she would—

—and his mind was reeling.

“Work” he choked.

“Good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> @thesarcasticside on tumblr


	11. 00001011

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lab C. Dei'dra's most interesting projects are... kept there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characters: Virgil, Janus, OC, Dragon Witch
> 
> Warnings: Spooky science imagery, missing limbs, minor body horror

00001011

There were many researchers, developers, and investors that Virgil worked under. His job was to provide support for them. This involved a lot of tedious work that probably could be a lot more automated; but then again, perhaps that automation was just supposed to be Virgil.

While Virgil was not directly involved in the projects, he knew more about them than he would like.

He tried, oh he tried, to not learn what became of Lova.

He worked in a blur, blocking out everything. He moved his roots. He moved symbols around. Data ran inside his body like runners on a track, each lap repeating, never ending. Information numb.

He knew though.

It was nighttime. Everyone had gone home long ago. They left in their cars, or traveled on subways, opened their front doors and greeted their families. Most would be asleep right now. Virgil was still at headquarters. He lived there. Always.

He took a break from his number crunching. He could be resting right now, but his mind was alive with song. He let the frequencies play out in his mind, recording the sounds, memorizing the melodies. He walked around the building. He traveled in ways that were not meant for people to travel. Passages for packages. Garbage shoots. Vents and cord trails.

He was in lab C. Like a nightmare, Virgil could not stop himself from looking at the projects.

Pristine, white walls. Steel doors and tables. Computers and machines. The mundanity of it all to Virgil faded away from his consciousness as he focused his attention only on the projects. The lab was like a grey picture frame for these revolting masterpieces.

Glass full of red. Glowing green lights. Whirling low hums and stinging high frequencies. Creatures of all sizes, some pieced together, some in pieces. It was tidy and organized. No less horrific than a rampage.

Very few in the company even knew about this lab. If word got out about what was happening here, there would be war. Virgil wanted to share it; he wanted everything here to go up in flames. Yet Virgil, at the sight of it each time, at the thought of it each time, was speechless. The only outcome he could think about for himself would be casualty.

He stood, thinking his thoughts, in the middle of a nightmare. Then something—someone—moved. Virgil jumped, twisting in the air to face whatever it was.

Encased in a viscous yellow fluid, a man stared at him.

His name was—His name was—the man could not remember.

Project $DEE.

He was missing limbs. Virgil could not see half of his face. Silent tension stirred in the air like low frequency sound. Then Dee thrashed in his container like he was drowning. He fought against the glass, slamming his body against it.

Virgil shook, scrambling towards his container. He did not know if he should run or let him out. Virgil slammed his fist into the control panel, rapidly sending signals, any signals; whatever the machine needed to order itself to let him go.

The yellow liquid flooded the room, splashing into Virgil in a giant wave. Red lights flashed in the lab. Dee stumbled out of his prison. He coughed, he gagged. He held his side, feeling for his missing arm. He felt the ghost of one of his legs lift him in the air for a moment before disappearing and sending him to the ground. The alertness that had trailed behind his wake shattered and dizziness fell over him like a fog. Dee tried to look around him, but half of his gaze was missing.

Dee’s consciousness was brief. Then he flopped onto the ground, losing any and all strength in his body. Virgil watched as his only eye closed, and Dee was out.

Virgil shivered, the cold soaking into his body as he froze where he stood. Regret flooded his mind in waves. He could hear Dei’dra waking up in the middle of the night miles away, checking the cameras in Lab C, and then laughing her head off at the sight of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I post this story on tumblr too, @thesarcasticside. If you have any questions about the story, I would be happy to answer some asks so long as they are not terribly spoliery!
> 
> I had some crepes today--what are your favorite breakfast foods?


	12. 00001100

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Somewhere else thunder rumbles as cyan rain trembles in the air splattering onto the gravelly sand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characters: Virgil, Dragon Witch
> 
> Warnings: verbal abuse, physical abuse, disassociation, pain, isolation

00001100

Security swept him away. Virgil did not see what happened to Dee after that. Virgil was held in a fortified containment room. He had no memory or recollection of this place, despite studying the building’s floor plan in the past. Must have been a new addition. Virgil wondered how many ‘business rivals’ had been put in this same holding cell.

The room was completely blank. No furniture. The floor, the walls, the ceiling were all the same color of off-white. The air was filled with a never heard before silence. Virgil could not tell if the ringing he could hear was his own playing tricks on him or if there was some frequency radiating from the walls.

Time did not exist here. To Virgil, it did not pause, or move forwards or backwards. It simply did not exist until the door—where did that door come from—opened and into the room came Dei’dra.

Virgil’s vision was cast in red, a pain emanating from the device in his chest. A kick to his chest distracting him from it, Virgil was flung against the light grey wall. Or maybe it was a light red?

“I guess me having my fun kicking you around myself stopped you from realizing that the thing in your chest isn’t just for show.”

Virgil felt his entire body freeze, seizing—it was like his ‘heart’ stopped and he was dying.

“I thought after your little friend back at the ship, you wouldn’t try releasing my subjects.”

Another distraction from the red, Virgil’s body was bursting at the seams, electrified.

He was lifted in the air, the world spun around him, his sight muffled by interference and noise.

“I hope I have made things clear now. Do not forget that you are expendable.”

Given the amount of pain, he wanted the pain to stop along with his body.

“If I am expendable, expend me.” That did not come out right.

“Oh, don’t worry about that, little one. You’ll have your time.”

Dei’dra left after, leaving Virgil with the red pain exploding from his chest. Virgil could not keep track of the time. Never-ending. Seconds. Days. Years. Millennia. It could have been anything. The pain. The room. It was all distorting.

In some distant world, on some other plane of existence—it felt like—Virgil was somewhere else. He did not recall leaving the room, just as one does not remember falling asleep. If reality was the darkest, most painful time of his life, then the rest of his story was a dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I learned today you can check stats here on archive and see subscriptions and all that. I am very silly. 
> 
> What is your favorite summer garden food? I've got blueberry bushes in my backyard and get to pick and eat fresh blueberries if I decide that I will bear the heat and the outdoors. Strawberries and blackberries too, but the blackberry bush is a menace and the strawberries have overthrown society. 
> 
> I am @thesarcasticside on tumblr: I post on there too. I also drew Virgil once :)


	13. 00001101

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Despite his qualifications, Logan still had trouble applying for internships, and this particular one just seemed to fall into his lap. He couldn't help but wonder if his parents would have been excited for him. The video call interview went well. Logan was not sure why the professor he did research with during the school year was not quite approving of his internship choice. That was the first hint for Logan that something was off about this company...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Can't really think of any besides anxious thinking, social awkwardness, and 'misunderstandings'.

00001101

First day on the job, an intern named Logan mistook Virgil for another intern. Virgil could not stop thinking about that for the rest of the day. Virgil did not want to correct him. Virgil just nodded under his hood and continued his work in the lab. A simple mistake like that implied—Oh, he could not say what it implied. Whatever it was, it lifted his soul in his chest by the scuff of the neck.

That “whatever” must have been what pulled Virgil, like some electrostatic force between negatively and positively charged particles, towards him. Virgil went out of his way to work in the same room as him.

Sharp, metallic talons pierced itself into Virgil’s throat. Virgil wanted to talk to this Logan. He wanted to chat with him as if he was just a fellow intern. He kept quiet, just as he had been trained to be. Good thing too, because after hearing Logan talk, hearing him communicate so effectively his observations and analysis, Virgil became once again afraid of speaking.

“Virgil. I believe you have already gotten all of your hours in. Should you not be heading home? You have been working late many times this week. You should have already clocked in at least 40 hours. I was told by my superiors that they discourage long hours because it makes operating equipment dangerous.” Logan had walked up right behind him. Virgil swiveled around in his chair to face him.

In his peripherals, Virgil noticed that they were alone in the lab. Virgil briefly pondered if Logan was allowed to be here alone—did he have the right clearance? Maybe, he thought, he was not sure. He did know that Logan was a graduate student. Was this against safety procedures? Virgil’s thoughts were delaying the inevitable. Virgil did not want to correct Logan’s assumptions. Too awkward, Virgil lied to himself.

“Those restrictions apply to humanoids and lab employees,” is what Virgil meant to say, but instead he said: “Those restrictions don’t apply to me,” but in a really garbled way. Logan scrunched his face, nose and eyebrows wrinkling as he tried to understand what Virgil had said.

Logan laughed, or maybe he scoffed. Virgil could not tell. He was unfamiliar with the subtleties of the tones of laughter. Maybe Logan was also smiling, but the shift in his facial expression was so small, Virgil had difficulty reading his face.

“You certainly need to head home, as it appears that your speech patterns have been disrupted by your lack of sleep.”

When Virgil showed no signs of moving, Logan huffed.

Logan looked mad at him.

Virgil froze, prepared for the inevitable to happen.

That did not happen. Virgil was in a shocked daze. Logan gently touched his shoulder, rested his hand on the fabric of the hoodie. Logan gently guided Virgil out of his chair. He patted the back of his shoulder softly when he stood up beside him.

Virgil pretended to ‘pack up his things.’ Logan walked with him, leaving the lab. They did not speak—which Virgil was thankful for. Virgil still felt unbelievably embarrassed; he wanted to shake it away with his hands, but he was afraid of making a fool of himself in front of Logan.

In his peripherals, Virgil looked closely at Logan as they walked. He looked ahead, confidently and sure of himself. His posture was tall and lean, cutting into the air. Virgil wondered briefly what Logan was. All Virgil could gather in his mind was “human.”

Despite Virgil’s worries, negative signals clamoring in his mind, Virgil felt elated. Virgil for a brief moment thought back to when Logan touched his shoulder. He could still feel the pressure that had weighed on him. The ghost of it lingered. Virgil wondered what sort of things Logan could tell him. What ideas and thoughts he could share with him? If Virgil could hold a root to him, what would he feel?

Virgil shut himself away again. There were voices telling him to stop. Logan was just an intern here. He would leave soon. And then Virgil would never see him again, or if Logan came back to work here permanently, Virgil feared he would no longer be able to look him in the eye. Logan would realize his assumption that Virgil was just another intern was wrong.

Logan would be mad at him for not correcting him. For pretending he was something he was not. Virgil shivered slightly.

“Say Virgil, if you do not mind me asking—” Please do not ask him what he is. Or ask him what shit is on him this time. Please do not ask. Virgil did not want to correct him. Yet there was a part of Virgil that also wanted to tell him everything. “—which of the projects are you working on?”

Which project? Virgil had worked on practically all of them at this point. Virgil said the first one that came to mind.

“$DEE” Logan paused his walking and turned to look at Virgil. He studied him closely. It was as if Logan had been really looking at him for the first time. Virgil’s face was obscured by his hood.

In that moment, something in Logan’s mind clicked. He opened his mouth, and took in a deep, shuddering breath. Arms closing in on his body, his hand hovered over his mouth and chin. He looked at Virgil.

“Tell me, Virgil. You are also an intern, are you not?”

Virgil looked at the large doors in front of them. This was where they had to part ways.

“Can’t say” was all Virgil said before he turned back around and left Logan standing at the exit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am excited for more Logan content in this series, but I will be honest and say there will not be much for a long while. 
> 
> Question of the day: Hot beverage of choice? Tea, coffee, hot chocolate, cider, etc.? I love tea a whole lot. 
> 
> I am @thesarcasticside on tumblr


	14. 00001110

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It had not occurred to Virgil how much he had thought about this until he was standing in Lab C, ready to confront project $DEE again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Swearing, F-bomb drop, anxiety, Janus is also pretty grumpy, mention but not explained/shown in detail: restraints, artificial limbs and missing limbs, forced medical treatment and testing

00001110

It had not occurred to Virgil how much he had thought about this until he was standing in Lab C, ready to confront project $DEE again. Little thoughts over time added up, like seeds scattered across a field, or like bulbs waiting to bloom into tulips until spring.

The thoughts tumbled and erupted into sounds.

Virgil had caught glances of Dee when he had been in the early stages of his ‘recovery.’ Before, he had been missing pieces of himself—limbs, an eye, even skin. He was still missing those pieces, but they were replaced by DRACANA’s technology. The man’s story (an act of charity, apparently) was even covered on the news, but soon faded into obscurity.

Dee was laying down, tied to a table in the middle of the room. The restraints were very necessary, Virgil previously overheard. Dee’s eyes were closed. The skin that surrounded the artificial eye was scaled. Virgil lingered, hesitant to say anything now. His mind ghosted him.

“What are you waiting for? Get on with the tests.” The man snapped at Virgil who was still standing in the doorway.

Dee had thought they were done for the day. At this point he was ‘fully healed,’ but scientists will always say that technology could be improved. He had heard someone open the door, waiting for them to wake him up again for another round.

The room was dark, so Dee opened his artificial eye to glance at the intruder. Dee’s vertical pupil, encased by a green-tinted yellow, stared right at Virgil, glinting with a hint of recognition. Dee’s brows furrowed, in an expression that Virgil was unbearably familiar with.

Virgil froze.

“Well, whatever it is, get on with it. It certainly could not have waited until morning.”

Silence still, but Virgil somehow regained his ability to move. He shuffled closer to Dee, not sure what to say.

The man sighed, irritated yet resigned, “Whatever might you need from me today, doctor?”

Virgil’s limbs started shaking. He was not sure why he was here. Perhaps, after all he went through in that room, he felt compelled to see Dee again, to see if it was worth it. To see if he did not suffer needlessly.

Virgil curled into himself, apologizing. Now, Dee was terribly confused on top of being tired and frustrated.

Dee groaned, “If you are just here to sight-see, I am going back to sleep.”

There were not a lot of projects that Virgil was able to converse with. There were plenty of projects, don’t get it wrong, but most, if not all, were not ‘there’ anymore. Virgil wanted to know why Dei’dra left this man with his wits intact. What was this next stage of development she was approaching? What was her need for cognizant projects?

“Are you… okay?” Virgil had to say something. He had no clue what to say in this situation, how to break this gap between them. The man laughed, snorted uncontrollably.

“Do I LOOK okay? Yeah sure, I am right as rain, having a grand old time—feeling peachy, even.”

Virgil mumbled an apology under his breath, frustrated that he could not even have a proper conversation with a person. Cringing at his uselessness, he curled into himself, shaking his head. What was he even doing here? Did he expect to? Make a friend? Is that it?

“If you aren’t here to run another one of your little tests, then just get out. Go tell your superior, or better yet, go tell Dei’dra to go fuck herself and leave me alone.”

Virgil was utterly disappointed, the loneliness devastating. He shook his head one final time before leaving Dee alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I hope you all enjoyed my Friday chapter! This chapter, this last chapter, and the next are some of my favorites because we get to interact with more of the main sides!  
> I reblogged a few ask games on tumblr, so if you have questions for me or about the story, I would be ecstatic to answer them! [I am thesarcasticside!](https://thesarcasticside.tumblr.com/)  
> Question of the day: What was the last fanfiction/show/movie/book/etc that made you cry or was super emotional? For me, probably something from the Love and Other Fairy Tales series. As for movies, I remember a long time a go I watched Wolf Children and that one made me CRY! I eventually need to watch grave of the fireflies too, which I have heard is really rough.


	15. 00001111

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A business trip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Nothing I can think of besides general anxiety and crying

00001111

Dei’dra’s business had its headquarters on that large red planet, but she often traveled to meet with partners or go to conferences. Virgil often went with her, or stayed behind, depending on what work needed to be done.

During one of the trips he took with Dei’dra, he was allowed to wander around one of the busy markets and cultural centers of a large, probably overpopulated, planet. Of course, he was running an errand and numbers in his mind as he walked around.

How long had it been since he had heard, since he heard… oh what was that sound? He knew, in his soul, what it was. He forgot the word for it. He touched above his head, near his ears, to the side.

The dying flowers could only buzz a couple quiet tones, which had long ago only rung at the back of his mind, blending into the background.

He had to find this sound, where it was coming from. It was different from the sounds he remembered, but this feeling that rose in his chest, cooling and soothing his mind like gentle sprays of rain, was overpowering, hypnotizing.

The streets were dark grey and brown. The pavement was wet, a deep hue. Drops of rain clicked on the ground. He looked everywhere, at everything, dodging the crowd.

The plastic handle holes of the bag holding his errand cut into his palms. He jogged. He sprinted. He followed the sound.

Lights dragged across his peripherals. He kept flying, he felt electricity whirl behind him. He shoved past people. People moved out of his way.

And when he finally found the source of the music—that was the word—he stopped.

The music was loud, filling him up inside like a bucket of water. It vibrated in his branches and leaves. It was unbearable, but it rushed to his mind beautiful feelings.

Humans are the ones who cry. Aerthians don’t. But they do this thing where their entire body shakes, emitting a wail. And Virgil was encased in an earthquake, emitting an unbearably high frequency. Virgil tried to soften the wail, but it felt unbearably loud.

The musician looked at him strangely, in a way he had not seen in a long time.

Virgil could not remember the specifics of this conversation, years later, but the gist of it stuck with him. Here it was.

“Hey, kid. Are you okay?” He spoke a language Virgil could understand and speak, thank goodness.

Virgil was a good distance away from the man. He had stopped playing music to ask him the question, so Virgil could catch his breath. Virgil studied him closely. He was awed by his dark brown skin, his big friendly smile, and eyes that looked directly at him.

Virgil inched forwards: unbearably slow compared to his earlier flight. He held the limbs he could, trying to stop their shaking. He looked up at the musician.

Virgil tried to say something along the lines of “Sorry, please continue with the singing,” But it sounded garbled to his own ears. The musician beamed at him. Virgil almost flinched but was filled with warmth.

“Sure,” the man said.

Virgil studied the man as he began to sing again. It was soft, and smooth, each note gliding to the next. He was not used to listening to this language—not really used to listening to actual audio in general. Virgil forgot to breathe between pauses. He felt a rock in his chest, radiating heat like a hot coal. It seized his ribs, holding him in place.

And the song continued, faster, bumpy, like rolling hills. Each word falling into the next, like dancing footsteps. The song rose, the intensity buzzing in his chest. And then it simmered down, letting the resonance waft in the air like steam from a hardy stew.

The busy streets faded away. The crowd bumping into him, suffocating him, ceased. In that one moment, his whole world was this sound.

The man smiled back at him, bright and cheerful. Virgil wondered how he must have looked to him. He was dull, grey, and encased in darkness. This man, his dark skin glistened like golden sepia and a deep russet. Virgil had not seen or heard anything like this for a long time, and realizing that, it hurt.

Virgil wanted to switch places with him, but also did not—he would never subject someone else to his own life.

As the man started up another song, one that was even bouncier than the last, Virgil noticed the crowd throw money into the hat on the ground. Virgil felt unbearably guilty. He did not have any money he was allowed to spend on himself. It occurred to him that this might be rude, watching him and giving him nothing in return.

Did he have anything? Did he have anything he could call his own?

He could not think of a single thing.

Virgil listened on, letting the music sink into his vines, revitalized. His mind was wide awake, thoughts spinning around. Songs and notes and frequencies swirling in his mind.

Virgil did not realize he had started singing along. Instead of stopping, the musician continued singing. Virgil’s voice was raw, ruff, and deep. It crackled, hit the notes harshly.

Yet people stopped to listen to him. It was erupting, shaking them. Stirring emotions in them that were not their own.

Virgil, realizing this song was no longer in his head, hesitated for a moment, but he met the musician’s encouraging eyes. Virgil also did not realize he had slipped into his native language. It must have sounded like complete nonsense to everyone else, but the words Virgil sang felt sacred and vulnerable.

It felt like a dream. He was lost, wandering, time flowing freely. His voice was sore and aching.

It could have been millennia. But that was not long enough.

DEI’DRA

<<Time for you is running out, little one.

Virgil stopped, his voice like a muffled scream. The silence was unbearably loud. He felt empty. He missed the music. The musician’s voice trailed, fading out when he noticed Virgil stopped.

“Why did you stop? Something the matter?”

Virgil had to stop himself from shaking to answer him with “It’s getting late, I have to go.”

He looked disappointed. His smile resurfaced regardless.

“Hey, I didn’t get your name. I’m Terrence. What’s yours?”

Virgil should be leaving, but he was rooted in place.

“It’s Virgil.”

"You’re an amazing singer. Do you have any recordings I could listen to?”

Virgil was confused. “Recordings?” Recordings for Virgil consisted of observations, numbers, analysis, binary, and hexadecimal. He had never thought of recording music, not even on Aerth.

“Yeah, recordings? Are you signed to a record label or do you produce music by yourself?”

Virgil simply shook his head no. Those sorts of things vaguely floated in his mind.

“Seriously? Hey, I bet I could introduce you to a few of my friends. If you are not making music, you totally need to. You are so passionate and soulful. Your voice could use a bit of training but whatever you do, I’m sure you can do great things with it. Is money an issue? Need somewhere to stay? I know a few places. I am sure we’ll be able to find you some recording equipment and you will be killing it in no time.”

And Virgil shook harder, head shaking sideways in a no. This man, Terrence, was offering him the world. But he could not accept. He pointed to his chest, moving his shirt out of the way.

The light of the tracker flicked in the late evening shadows.

“If I go with you, she will find me.”

“Who’s she?”

Virgil ran away instead of answering. It broke something inside him, knowing he would never see Terrence again, hear his music. Virgil did not know the avalanche that would result from this. He could not have known, but at least Virgil could remember music again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope Terrence's appearance turned out okay! I really loved the song Birds and really wanted to include him in here--he was a bit of an inspiration for this fic! I hope the dialogue was not too awkward; I tried my best and I would say imagery is more my strong suit.
> 
> Question of the day: Do you like listening to music? --I got a pair of Grado Headphones and have been listening to a lot of Cavetown, Adele, and Jazz, which Definitely Has Had No Influence On This This Fic /s 
> 
> [It occurred to me that anyone new to sander sides might not know who Terrence is--his full name is Terrence Williams Jr and is one of Thomas's friends. He makes some appearances in his videos. He has a BEAUTIFUL voice--check out Ultimate Storytime!]
> 
> [I am thesarcasticside on tumblr!](https://thesarcasticside.tumblr.com/)  
> 


	16. 00010000

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Goodness, I gotta pull an all-nighter or else I am totally going to fail this test on [redacted]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Swearing (F-word), sleep deprivation, gun

00010000

Burnt, musky, chemical air wafted subtly—a smell that was ignored easily most of the time. It crawled into Virgil’s body, scratching into his nose and dragging through his body to his respirations.

His mind buffering, Virgil grasped at his focus, slippery and distant, his grip tingling and twitching. He could see himself pressing buttons, typing. Whatever numbers and characters they were, he was too far away to see. Brightness blanketed his peripherals, sun beams piercing into his eyes

Somebody called him. He raised his head, despite his whole body telling him to droop to the ground, turn into a sepia stem, and let his body go on without him. He did not catch everything the scientist said, and he hoped he would not face the consequences of that later. The languid repetitiveness of the data he worked with had him clutch onto his consciousness tightly; what he would give to be nothing in this moment.

Like a bath of ice, Dee’s voice slapped him awake. The room suddenly cut into him. Virgil could clearly see the white walls, the dark grey flooring, and the red rug that existed inside Dei’dra’s office. He could see from his glass case Dei’dra and Dee discussing something. Dee wore slick, black armor that covered his entire body except his head.

Dee, casually bleeding from his abdomen, begrudgingly handed over a large case to Dei’dra; she plopped it onto her desk, opened the clasp, and released a sight of red into the room. Cackling, Dei’dra grinned, patting Dee on the back. Dee stood stoically, refusing to let his spine recoil and his shoulders repel from her hand.

Head turning away from Dei’dra, Dee looked at Virgil as if he had just stepped into some unknown wet and slimy substance. Gutted, Virgil turned his focus back to his assignment.

A while later, when Dei’dra was gone, Dee entered her office again.

Virgil briefly wondered the last time either of them slept. Bags coiled around Dee’s eyes() as he slipped through the door, glancing around at the cameras. Virgil checked the cameras, and noticed they were deactivated. Virgil watched Dee move across the room, which was looking pretty fuzzy to him to be honest. He looked back to his computer, deciding whether stopping his work would be worth sleeping for a few.

Dee climbed behind Dei’dra’s desk, opened her computer and began typing. After a while, Dee stopped himself from slamming his fist through the damn thing and audibly yelling fuck. Instead, his fist accelerated towards the desk for it to only hover less than a centimeter above it. Virgil saw him mouth many words, but Virgil could not make out most of them.

Dee hit his head with his hands, his palms sliding down his face and shoulders hunching over the desk. He raised his head for a moment, and Virgil had an unobstructed view of his face. Time decided to take a breather, and they were stuck there looking at each other for a good long second before Dee jumped into the air and launched himself towards Virgil’s desk.

$DEE raised his pistol and pointed it directly at him. $DEE could not leave any evidence behind. $DEE could not be caught by Dei’dra. She did not need any excuse to make him feel just about anything so long as it was worse than death.

Virgil looked into the barrel of the gun, resigned and shocked awake. He poured his gaze deeper inside the black hole that housed bullets and plasma, frequencies buzzing at his fingertips, lyrics and melodies screeching into his mind, begging life to not give him up yet.

Virgil, without losing sight of Dee, silently touched his computer and disabled the microphones listening in on the room.

“Don’t, please.” Is all Virgil could say, and Dee nearly shot him then and there. When nothing—no flashing red lights, no thundering alarms, no rumble of walking guns and canons locking in on them both—decided to make their acquaintance, Dee lowered the gun and glared.

“If you say a word to Dei’dra about me being here I will make you regret every damn moment you decided to be her little lap dog.” Dee said, a grumbling half-whisper like a snake’s rattle.

Instead of feeling threatened, Virgil was honestly just confused. Lap dog? He almost felt insulted.

“You think I chose to be here?” Virgil scoffed, laughing the kind of chuckle that hurt.

Dee did not look amused, instead irritated by his laughter. It did not really occur to Dee at this point that he was not the only one working for Dei’dra against their will—but cut him some slack, he’s only been conscious for like a month now. When it clicked in his mind, he put the gun away.

Still distrustful, he replied, “You’re ANX, aren’t you? Dei’dra’s personal assistant? I am sure anyone who hated her and had access to all her classified data every damn night would totally not hack into her entire database and get her fucking arrested and company shut down.”

Confused, Virgil tilted his head to the side, carefully going over every word before deciding that was some kind of insult. He opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly his attention was brought back to his computer, where he saw that the cameras and microphone were coming back on. He shoved a limb in the direction of the door, signaling Dee to leave. Dee got the message and left. Virgil did not have any time that night to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has read this story!!!!!!!!! I am so happy! It is fun imagining people enjoying the things you create, imagining how the feelings I feel when writing this are being carried over to others and such! Thank you all so much!
> 
> Today I read   
>  [ How two exasperated doctors adopted three robots by duckdistributor ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25676008)  
> It was such a good read! It made me excited for Logan and Patton's part in my au! 
> 
> So, relatedly, question of the day: Favorite Sci-Fi Sander Sides fics? I love all of delimeful's stuff. Any great recommendations in the comments would be absolutely lovely!
> 
> [I am thesarcasticside on tumblr!](https://thesarcasticside.tumblr.com/)  
> 


	17. 00010001

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In mathematics, an inverse function is a function that " **reverses** " another function: if the function f applied to an input x gives a result of y, then applying its inverse function g to y gives the result x, and vice versa
> 
> In cryptography, a **cipher** is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption—a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure.
> 
> (from Wikipedia, which still exists)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got a bit of a puzzle : D for you! I put my hints in the summary--If you figured out how to decode it, then post the solution (not the entire text) in the comments.
> 
> Characters: Janus
> 
> Warnings: Forced medical treatment, amnesia, encoded text

00010001

(static)

Wruuvivmg nvgslwh lu ivkorxzgrmt hfyqvxg O’h vkrwvinrh dviv gvhgvw, zmw rg dzh wvgvinrmvw gszg tildrmt xvooh uiln z xfogfiv, dsrov klhhryov, gllp gll nfxs grnv zmw ivhlfixvh. Gsrh kilxvhh dzh zxxvovizgvw yb xlnyrmrmt WMZ uiln hfyqvxg U7 zmw zwwrgrev nzmfuzxgfirmt nvgslwh. Gsv nzmfuzxgfirmt kilxvhh szh yvvm ufigsvi ivurmvw zmw rh ivzwb gl zkkob gl mvd kilhgsvgrxh.

Fklm ufigsvi gvhgrmt gsv wfizyrorgb lu gsv hprm dzh ulfmw gl yv rmhfuurxrvmg uli gsv kilhgsvgrx kfiklhv. Mvd nzmfuzxgfirmt nvgslwh rmxivzhvw gsv wfizyrorgb yb 20%. Ivhvzixs gvzn rh urmwrmt nliv hfyqvxgh gl ufigsvi ivurmv gsv ulinfoz lu gsv zigrurxrzo hprm.

(static)

Z mvd hfyqvxg dsl rh xlnkzgryov drgs gsv mvd kilhgsvgrxh szh yvvm ulfmw zmw lkvizgrlmh szev yvtfm rnnvwrzgvob. Gsv ovmh kilglgbkv szh yvvm rmhvigvw rmgl srh hpfoo zugvi gsv ivnlezo lu srh wvuvxgrev vbv. Gsv mvievh rm srh ornyh szev yvvm ivxlmhgifxgvw gl rmxivzhv ivhklmhv grnv zmw ivuovcvh dsvm xlmmvxgvw gl gsv kilhgsvgrx zin zmw ovt.

Gsv ovmh kilglgbkv dzh ivqvxgvw yb kilqvxg $WVV’h rnnfmv hbhgvn zmw xzfhvw wznztv gl gsv hfiilfmwrmt grhhfv. Dv ziv rm gsv kilxvhh lu xivzgrmt z mvd ovmh kilglgbkv.

Kilqvxg $WVV rh xlmhxrlfh. Dv droo hllm lkvizgv lm srh nvnlib. Rg dzh wvgvinrmvw gszg gsv gizfnz sv vckvirvmxvw kirli gl srh zxxrwvmg dzh wvvnvw gll hveviv zmw dlfow ufigsvi wznztv srh nrmw yvblmw ivkzri. Dv ziv gl drkv lfg gsv vmgriv nvnlib lu srh oruv yvuliv. Gsrh rh mlm-ivevihryov. Rg dlfow mlg yv zh ru sv mvevi vcrhgvw, yfg zh ru nroovmmrz szev tlmv yb zmw ivwfxvw srh oruv gl wfhg.

(static)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cryptography is pretty important for cybersecurity--for instance, websites don’t actually keep passwords character by character--they encrypt it, basically, with ideally, a non-reversible function (Okay, so, encryption, encoding, hashing, ciphers, are not all the same thing, lots of things to **google** if you are curious). 
> 
> Non-reversible functions are also integral (ha) to math. Much of differential equations (which is what you can take after calculus) is trying to ‘reverse’ functions; particularly, derivatives--
> 
> \--If you don’t know what those are… don’t worry too much. Here are some examples though for you to get an idea: If you have a line, then the derivative of that line is the slope. The derivative of a distance function is velocity, and the derivative of velocity is acceleration. Very basically, a derivative is ‘change over time.’)
> 
> As you can see, I am very big brain XD It is the price I pay for my hubris i guess. Question of the day: what is your favorite number? I really like 0, 1, 2, and 5 because they are really easy to work with. Personal favorite is 2, but 1 and 0 are iconic. 5 is *chefs kiss* so nice.
> 
> [I am thesarcasticside on tumblr!](https://thesarcasticside.tumblr.com/)


	18. 00010010

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ...ashes of thoughts  
> ......an operation of the mind  
> ..........amidst a dance of particles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characters: Janus, Virgil
> 
> Warnings: Injury, if I need to specify anything please say so

00010010

<<Project $DEE has been recovered from his failed mission and sent to Lab C for repairs.

Virgil jumped through many hoops, like a dog, to be there—to stand in Lab C again, standing over project $DEE, again. Perhaps, Virgil knew that out of anyone at DRACANA, Dee was the only one besides himself that was close enough to _her_ to know the truth and have the desire to spill it.

Virgil could not look away. Dee had no left eye to look back. His cheek, his eye socket, part of his forehead, it was all chiseled off. Broken apart, shattered, body in mismatched pieces, a ragdoll.

Virgil rested his limb down beside Dee’s head. A root slithered behind his neck, hoping to see if Dee was still there. And he was.

Virgil did not know what he was looking at. It was like a completely different language to him. It was easy for him to connect to computers and even alien plants he encountered occasionally. He was familiar with how information was structured. With humans, or other humanoid aliens or animals, connecting to them was not compatible. Virgil could sense all sorts of things, but he could barely make sense of any of it, normally, but…

Barren.

Virgil’s fingertips were cold, like in a dream, where he closed his eyes and saw Dee standing beyond. He could hear rustling from nowhere, like in a desert night. Virgil could not feel patches of his body, so immersed in Dee’s sensations and thoughts. One moment he could see the desert clearly, each grain of sand countable. The next he is stuck in a black firework-filled void of consciousness. A disembodied voice spouting nonsense.

Virgil felt weak, his mind dozing, tearing its way through, pulling itself forward, dragging its actions onwards. He felt encased in a yellow fluid, a slop, a transparent mush. In moments of silence, Virgil could hear a scream ring throughout his mind, like lightning through a tunnel.

Virgil felt miles, millennia, away, from anywhere, from anything. He could not find his body, or any being.

Virgil dug into the void, claws digging into maroon mud, grains filling every crevasse of his hands—he had hands, real hands, humanish hands. Not his own. Virgil gasped, perhaps aloud with the outside world as its witness. Virgil crawled, each movement of his limbs audible, aching throughout the tiny threads that sewed himself together.

Virgil dug, dug, dug, dug, dug. Repeating, repeating, a glitch, a buffering screen. Static and boxes of RGB.

Oh, this was more familiar. And Virgil was sitting. He was sitting next to Dee still, but he was talking to the AI inside his skull. It was glitching. Code rambling. Errors falling. Virgil could not do much for whatever organic organism made up Dee’s other half. The fractured lies beside him.

Virgil could help him though, perhaps indirectly. He could troubleshoot code.

He was not useful for much else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter this week was a bit small--in hindsight, it could have been added to the next chapter, but you know what they say about hindsight in the year 2020... Was also super busy/stressed this week... this fall is going to be chaotic for me as well :/
> 
> Question of the day: What background noise (if any) do you like when studying/relaxing? I love mynoise.net and my favorite sounds are Meadow Land and Irish Coast
> 
> [I am thesarcasticside on tumblr!](https://thesarcasticside.tumblr.com/)


	19. 00010011

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stuttering, cold and damp  
> Steal the warm wind, tired friend  
> Times are gone for honest men  
> And sometimes far too long for snakes  
> In my shoes, a walking sleep  
> And my youth, I pray to keep  
> Heaven sent hell away  
> No one sings like you anymore  
> (Black Hole Sun)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characters: Janus, Virgil
> 
> Warnings: Injury, mention of death/hell, if I need to specify anything please say so

00010011

Dee woke up. He thought that Virgil was sitting beside him. He could feel his presence sitting next to him, but he was not there. Instead he was met by machines. He fell back asleep.

<< Project $DEE has lost funding

<< Project $DEE will be deactivated.

<< Project $DEE funding has been renewed.

Virgil could barely manage that. He looked down at Dee. Virgil was perched on a counter, staring down at him. Virgil was honestly baffled. Something dug inside his chest, begging for somebody. Anyone.

Dee, he could have been it. All these feelings were wrapped inside Virgil. He could not name them.

And then Dee’s eyes opened up again, and Virgil jumped in his skin, his gaze from afar interrupted.

“Am I dead? Is this hell?” Dee would not be surprised that hell was a laboratory. Dee then wondered what hell was, and why he thought it existed. He could not recall.

“You’re wrong about one of those, but it ain’t hell.” Virgil was getting better at speaking Common. “Probably,” Virgil added because he could not be philosophically certain about anything anymore.

Dee was surprised that his arms were not restrained. He reached to touch the left side of his face because it felt numb—tingly static, almost. His eye was slightly different too. He looked to Virgil.

“How much did they…?”

“A lot, um,” Virgil was not sure how to list it all. He grabbed the clipboard beside him, scanning Project $DEE’s blueprints. Giving up on finding the words to string together, he just flipped the screen around and handed it to Dee.

Dee was surprised, actually, because he had been looking for his blueprints for a long time, and here Virgil was, handing it to him. Dee wanted to dig deep into the screen, but it was too much to take in at once. He tallied his losses, and then set the clipboard down. Blinking slowly, breathing slowly, thinking slowly. He dug into his mind, into his memories, to check they were still there. To check if he was still there.

His hand felt like static, but it was the one he still had. He felt like crying, but nothing crawled down his visage. He could not see much of anything, but he was looking at _it_.

Virgil was looking at him, startled. Dee took a deep breath. A plasticy sheet sat atop him, and cold metal sat beside him.

“Virgil, was it?” Dee asked. Virgil nodded his head. “Why are you here?”

“I, well, have been, um.” Dee could not quite track Virgil’s eye movements normally, but it was obvious he was avoiding looking at him when his head was turning far away from him.

Dee noticed that Virgil was shaking and holding his chest tightly with his limbs. And Virgil turned to look at Dee directly, and he said, “I could not let them throw you away.”

Dee blinked a few times, recalling his last mission.

Thwack.

Virgil could not catch Dee before he fainted. Dee’s head thudded onto the table. Virgil scrambled, and connected back to see what was going on. He could not listen in on the whole dream, but he could see parts of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Question of the day: Since fall is soon approaching, what is your favorite fall thing? I love tea and rain, the smell of autumn leaves, and the bite of approaching winter fended off by a sweater.
> 
> [I am thesarcasticside on tumblr!](https://thesarcasticside.tumblr.com/)


	20. 00010100

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Glimpses of visions at the corner of his sight  
> passed through too quickly to read.  
> Like a monolith of text,  
> information and data scrambled in front of him. 
> 
> He held on. He kept whispering to him, stay alive, please.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characters: Janus, Virgil
> 
> Warnings: discussion of death/killing

00010100

Virgil shook, struggling to cling onto Dee’s mind, the nightmare-ish signals strung along through him, tying around him and binding his limbs together. Virgil held on, not tightly, but as if he might let go at any second. He needed Dee alive; he needed someone else here, so he would not be alone.

Glimpses of visions at the corner of his sight passed through too quickly to read. Like a monolith of text, information and data scrambled in front of him. He held on. He kept whispering to him, stay alive, please.

Too distracted by their thoughts, Virgil did not realize a scientist had entered the room. Virgil did not see the security guard knock him away, the disrupted connection blinding. Virgil scrambled away, like a rat. He had to come back later to see if he or anyone were of any help in keeping him alive.

“I am getting really sick and tired of this project. It’s going nowhere; I can’t believe it still has funding.”

Virgil hovered around Lab C, waiting for the science to stop and for him to visit Dee again. Something was tied up in his chest, tangling hope in knots. Dei’dra was away, so he hoped that he would not be missed at his station. He also hoped she would not return, but she always did.

Tired of his own pacing, he looked out the window in Dei’dra’s office. He knew the scientists would go home soon. He watched as the night sky faded into the color of human blood. A dark, deep red, that reflected a vibrant red light at the horizon. An orange fog simmered over the grey buildings, blending into the orange ground beyond the dome’s veil.

Something pierced inside his chest as memories of red resurfaced in his mind. Shoving through the flames, he searched for something more, something hopeful. He searched for the music of his family, the stories and lessons they shared. Nothing surfaced vividly, only fragments and vague gists. The only vivid picture he could see when he closed his eyes was laying in a meadow, singing to flowers.

Virgil found himself humming their song. Like a ghost haunting Dei’dra’s headquarters, his voice echoed around, blending with the buzzing hum of the machines and vents.

Like waking to an alarm, Dee’s consciousness was dragged to the surface by music. His body sprung to life, but his mind lagged behind. His vision was muffled but he could hear the song play vividly. Half awake, Dee struggled to look around the room. His body tensed when he saw the silhouette watching him, the source of the music.

“Do you think it is possible, Dee?” the night sky silhouette whispered.

“What?” Dee was not following. He could barely think.

“To stop Dei’dra?” Virgil’s eyes glowed, fire crackling in his voice.

“Well, yeah. Everything dies eventually. And I have been outside long enough to realize that there’s plenty who want her dead,” Awake now, Dee glared at Virgil, “Might as well help that along.”

“I want to help, but…” Virgil said.

“But what?” Dee said, like one who just got woken up abruptly would.

Virgil unzipped his hoodie halfway and held the device in one of his limbs. Dee watched it blink red and blue slowly, like steps in a casual stroll.

“If I do anything, she’ll kill me.”

“Well yeah, she’ll find a way to kill just about anyone who goes against her. Nothing special.” Dee said that, but something hit him when he looked at the device in Virgil’s chest. He wondered if such a device was inside him also.

“Looking at your blueprints, I honestly don’t see anything in your files that will allow her to kill you directly at a touch of a button like me. I guess she thinks she can control you using your mind, but the tech they are using is struggling to keep up.” It was like glue holding pottery together, and nothing more. The damage had already been done. Felt like an oversight on Dei’dra’s part, but she had a lot to oversee. Or maybe she was just messing with them.

Dee spoke aloud, “Well, I don’t care if I live or die,” that was a lie, “and I have been trying to take her down for as long as I can remember,” literally, “So do what you want; if you don’t want to risk dying then go ahead.”

Dee was not fond of Virgil’s cowardly uncertainty. “But, if it is the last thing I do, Dei’dra’s going to die.” And that was that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really want to thank everyone who has been reading. I’m so enthused, like, I can see the ‘pile’ of kudos at the bottom of the fic and that delights me so—the idea of people reading my things makes me smile!
> 
> Since I do have all my chapters for this story prewritten, I decided I wanted to make a podfic of it also! I recorded my voice last week and intend to do a ton of audio editing. I will probably release it all together after this story is fully posted! This is pretty exciting to me because [the podfic for the Love and Other Fairy Tales series by GodOfLaundryBaskets ](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1302914) is what got me into sander sides fanfiction and the fandom. (Like, I had seen the series on YT but it was pretty low on my radar)
> 
> Question of the day: What is your favorite season? I love fall, winter, and spring the most, with winter being my favorite. I love it when it is cold and rainy, basically.
> 
> [I am thesarcasticside on tumblr!](https://thesarcasticside.tumblr.com/)


	21. 00010101

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ROMAN _enters and tries to help_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characters: Roman, Virgil
> 
> Warnings: Swearing, some fear, the words dagger and cop are used

00010101

A sharp headache swarmed around Virgil’s head like planetary rings. The bright white of the ship’s control room prickled at his senses. He swept his roots across the control panel, looked out at the expansive sky surrounding the docked ship, and decided he would not be missed.

Dei’dra was already inside the large building in the center of the city. Virgil could not quite recall what sort of conference this was, though he was sure it was actually very reputable; it was hosted by a very famous cosmic entity, though what he was called by humans he could not quite remember, something about some old human mythological figure maybe.

Virgil knew he would not be able to leave the ship, but he could at least exit it. He did not exit through the main entrance. Instead, he climbed up through some maintenance hatch on the very top. It was a difficult climb, but that was a good distraction from the swarm inside his mind. Placing his hand onto the hatch, he unlocked it and pushed it open, arms shaking from the strain. Wind gushed through him, pushing him aside and dispersing into the ship.

The sunlight hit his face; instantly the debris swept away from his mind and a heavy weight slid off his shoulders like a pebble rain draining down his body. Still, a small dagger remained at the front of his mind, as his eyes twitched open and closed, and a low drumming held the back of his head. He climbed out of the hatch fully and laid himself down on top of the ship, letting his fuchsia beams dim and his mind wander far from him.

The surface of the ship thundered as it shook under the weight of footsteps. Virgil shot upwards, as if he never slept at all, and searched for the source of the vibrations. He tilted his head up and saw a tall pale figure standing over him.

Virgil scanned him over quickly, noting his near translucent white skin freckled in soft pink spots, his dark monolid eyes, and a crown of external frilly gills surrounding his face like a mop of curly ginger hair. He wore a long and flowy garment with a red sash diagonal across his chest. He stood as he was floating in water. His eyes glared at him as if trying to be stern, but his features to Virgil were neither fierce nor intimidating.

“Hey! You there! What are you doing?” The man said, as his face fell at the end of his sentence, unsure if this was his place.

“I’m minding my own business. What are you doing?”

The man looked back at the ship he was standing on. Head down, the frills on his head shivering like a gust of wind blew through them. Eyebrows furrowed—was he worried about something? Someone?—Eyes dark amidst his pale skin, the ghosts of veins tracing his face. The man stretched his back up, chin placed up higher.

“I am Roman, Prince of Rhodorium,” Roman decided to restart. Be polite. Be courteous. Be firm. “and you are trespassing on top of private property inside a restricted parking area.” Explain yourself. He cannot misunderstand. “I will need to see your identification, as I must escort you to the guard station!”

He was allowed to—no, it was his duty to do this. This person is trespassing. He is supposed to protect the conference. This person is trespassing. That was what he was told to do.

Virgil deflated slightly and dug into his hoodie, searching for his identification card. When he found it within the 6-inch depths, he handed it over to ‘Roman.’ “I’m one of Dei’dra’s comps,” Virgil’s voice dug deeply into the air, “Just getting some fresh air.”

Roman looked over the card carefully, “ANX?” Roman looked at Virgil closely, lingering on his grey hoodie and decaying vines swept over one of his eyes. “Haha, nice try. Trying to disguise yourself as an android to get a free ride, oldest trick in the book.” Roman reached for one of Virgil’s limbs, “You’re going to have to come with me.”

Virgil shuffled away from him. He tried to say something to correct him, but even Virgil could not make out what he tried to say.

“Hey now, if you are really that desperate for a ride, I am sure we could figure something out. I really wouldn’t have picked his ship if I were you. There are a lot of bad rumors going around about this lady and her company.”

It took a lot of force for Virgil to stop himself from shaking. What if Virgil just told this guy what was going on? He looked like some sort of space cop or something. If Virgil just spilled his guts, poured his heart out, wrote out every secret Dei’dra held, what would happen then? It was as if his throat was going to burst.

He hung his head low, softly like a snowdrop. In a deep staticky rumble, Virgil said “whatever rumors you’ve heard, there’s probably truth in them.”

“Uh… What?”

“She’s…” Virgil could not say. He did not have the words to describe it all, to articulate what she was doing. He wanted to tell him. Oh, he wanted to tell him. Most of all, he wanted to be taken away from her.

The silence was long enough that Roman decided to continue the conversation.

“Hey, what planet are you from anyway? Are you trying to get back home? Don’t worry, people get stranded all the time. Plenty of ways to find your way back home.”

Where was Virgil from, anyway? It took him a terrifyingly long moment to remember. He could feel the soft plants and moss below him at his fingertips, soft hums and murmurs. Gentle ‘I love you’s lingered on his dull skin. It took him much too long to say “Aerth”

“Earth? The human one?” Roman asked.

“No, Aerth. That’s the Common name they gave my planet.”

“Aerth?” Roman squinted, riffling through the planetary lessons he should have paid much more attention to back when he was training to become a prince. “Aerth…” he repeated to himself, tapping his chin with his webbed fingers. A giant wave of recognition flowed through him.

Virgil flinched as Roman straightened, his body language prepping for a fight.

“How are you from Aerth!? There was a huge war there years ago and a lot of the Aerthians…” Roman looked at Virgil closely, then looked down at his feet, staring at the ship. “That! That bitch!” And Virgil was very much afraid of the giant pale man pacing and shifting his arms as if he was going to punch somebody. “The rumors are true! All this time, with no evidence to incriminate her and here you are! I need to tell _Thomas_ right away! You! Come with me!”

While Virgil was quick, Roman caught him off guard, grabbing his arm. Though Virgil expected it to be much tighter, Roman’s grip was still inescapable. Roman almost got him off the ship before Virgil began to scream, flailing out of Roman’s grip and digging his limbs into his chest.

Roman twisted back around and saw something glow under Virgil’s clothes. Let go, Virgil fell back on his rear, the device still running its course through him. When the pain would not stop, Virgil tugged away his shirt and touched the device directly with his roots, trying to stop it from blaring.

“What the—what is that?” Roman asked, and Virgil shot his gaze up at him, the pain forcing anger into him.

“You think I wouldn’t have called in Dei’dra sooner? What do you think this is? Shit, she’ll know that I talked to you. Idiot!” He berated himself more so than anything, digging his head into his limbs, shaking. “Idiot!” He sobbed again.

Roman kneeled down and held the end of one of his limbs firmly, a comforting pressure. Virgil could sense a soft determination, hope of some sort.

“Anx, I am so sorry. I got carried away. I did not realize—but worry not, brave knight, I will bring you justice. Just you wait. But to do so, I will need your help. If I cannot bring you to safety, I will bring safety to you. I need evidence to incriminate her. Is there any lead you could give me? Anything at all that you can do before we must part ways… temporarily?”

It was as if Virgil was able to slow time at will, stuck in a trance, staring into Roman’s dark colored eyes. He could feel the pain numb, receding like ocean waves on the shore. The hustle and bustle of the city faded in a soft crashing buzz as Virgil studied every spec, every pixel, every splotch of color on Roman’s face. So carefully he looked, he could paint this exact moment. Yet as it became sewed into his eyes, he found that to ever carve it out of his chest and onto paper would be too painful to bear. Here Roman was, leaning towards him, offering him a hand, an escape.

It was like he was bathing in pure sunlight.

Overwhelmed, Virgil swiped the hand away as he scooched backwards towards the ship’s hatch. Roman frowned, and Virgil found that terrifying.

“Find Logan Craeft—he’s a graduate intern working for her. He’ll… He’ll get you in. I can… I can try and get you your evidence. I know her network inside and out. I have been trying to find a way to expose her. I just need more time.”

Roman lowered his head. He gently reached out his hand again. Virgil, reluctantly, delicately set some roots bundled together into Roman’s palm, like a bouquet of wilted flowers. Roman touched Virgil’s ‘hand’ gently to his forehead. Virgil, confused, did not understand the significance of such a gesture to Roman.

“Don’t worry; I will save you and everyone else she has hurt and taken from their homes.” And Roman retreated, nodding his head in goodbye. His dark eyes dragged Virgil’s soul with him as Roman turned around and left.

When Roman faded from view, Virgil felt like he was floating. Everything felt unreal, and Virgil dared not let any negative thoughts come closer. For once in this life, Virgil dared to hope, dared to believe that he could trust, and dared to feel something in his chest for another being that was so potent that Virgil felt like he was going to die.

Virgil stared at the hatch. He felt rooted in place, glued to the roof of the ship. Never had residing in Dei’dra’s company felt so appalling—because now he had a taste of sunlight and the thought in his mind that this was not how things ought to be.

It took him forever to do so, but Virgil entered the ship again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ROMAN _exists_
> 
> One line of dialogue really messed me up for this chapter. It turned into like, multiple paragraphs because I had to rewrite it. Dialogue is so dang hard. *cries* That's why this chapter is kind of late... I really could not get that opening line for Roman quite right. I hope this is good! 
> 
> College starts again for me this week, which could either mean two things: 1) I write less often or 2) I write more often... funny how that works... It’s nice to have something else to think about between classes I guess XD
> 
> Question of the day: Favorite smell(s)? 
> 
> I love floral smells like lavender and rose. I have a face wash that smells like fresh cut flowers. Lemon is also delightful!


	22. 00010110

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What is forever but infinity; yet neither are concepts applicable to our circumstances.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characters: Virgil, Mentions of the Dragon Witch, shorts characters Antagonist and Anxiety  
> Warnings: mention of smuggling, exploitation, harvesting, and destroying aliens and their respective planet  
> This chapter contains disjointed and glitchy text and images.   
> I added descriptions to the images, and the screenreader did work on my iphone, but it did not work for Read Aloud extension on firefox. If you use a screenreader, if you could give me feedback on how to improve, please leave a comment!

00010110

In the front of his mind, Virgil could see a pile—a build up of duties, responsibilities, that he had no choice but to undertake. It left his heart suspended, his limbs antsy and useless. He sat at his station, like a terrarium set on display, a plant forgotten and left unwatered.

He took himself aback. He settled his limbs, his focus, and left his mind without thought. A tune in his mind, like that of a mbira, resounded and took the place of his fretted thoughts—panic at the sight of a huge mountain of tasks.

He could feel through his roots the binary digits, the voltage high and the voltage low, the current flowing through him like an undammed river. Language and code to decipher. Logic beyond himself. He scrolled through, reading bits and bytes, searching through a pile for survival.

His chest burned as he flicked through walls of fire, stinging pain from bumping into too many obstacles. He had to try. He might not have wanted to try—as he knew the pain that followed him when he did—but he had to.

Dei’dra had taken a step too far a long time ago and now Virgil had a taste of hope on his tongue. A thought that reigned in his mind, that played music at the back of his head pushed him forward.

Sorting through the familiar and strange, he found something that might work. It was probably a very stupid, unrefined solution, that could be easily seen through, but maybe it would be enough to open a door to someone who could do a better job than he.

Yet that still left him with one problem—the device that was embedded in his chest. He prodded it.

So much to pile through, he could barely connect.

He kept digging like he had always done. Surrounded by holes, many in his own chest.

“You’re just a worthless little weed that decided it was going to be special and survive.”

He kept digging like he had always done. Surrounded by holes, many in his own 

He stumbled upon something, not even located in one of Dei’dra’s servers.

He could barely read the text written clearly before him, reminding him of his suspicions.

Wasn’t it just so convenient that it was Dei’dra’s ship that picked him up so long ago?

Wasn’t it so coincidental that she both hated him and used him, that her eyes were red and so was the planet that burned so long ago?

Virgil was fuming. Shaking like puffs of smoke floating.

The device kept ringing. He could not shut it off. He could not break it. Virgil thought back to the projects. If Virgil could stop more from happening, perhaps it would be worth bluffing, risking his own life. His fate was inevitable, anyway, might as well make it worth something.

Like thorns pressing from the inside of his chest, he had to pull it out, even if it meant he would bleed.

She could not keep this up forever.

But Virgil could not wait for ‘forever’ to put an end to it.

He had to t̴r̸y̴.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope the pictures loaded for you all right. I put the descriptions in so I hope that's how adding in the alt text works. 
> 
> Question of the day: If you could name a litter of kittens, what would you name them? Or what funny name would you want to give a cat? I would name them after sandwich fillings, like Pickles, Mayo, Tomato, Brioche, etc. Like, a cat named Mayo is hilarious and adorable to me. 
> 
> This story is also really getting close to the end! Make sure you follow the series because I have a few story ideas I am working on.


	23. 00010111

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "And I said no, you know, like a liar" -John Mulaney

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characters: Janus and Virgil, Mentions of the Dragon Witch,  
> Warnings: gun, discussion of killing

00010111

“You’re kidding.” Dee stared at him, raising an eyebrow.

Virgil stopped himself from hunching his shoulders, and instead lifted his head up. Dee’s face was turned slightly at an angle, his artificial eye in full view. Acid ate away at his throat as Virgil continued, “We’ll expose her secrets to the entire universe.” Virgil mirrored his expression, “So what now?”

“Knowing her, she’ll squirm her way out of it. If she must cut ties with DRACANA completely and make herself a new name elsewhere, she will do it. Getting the cops to chase after her won’t be the end of it.”

Virgil, knowing the very stupid, flawed, technical solution he was about to shove out of his—wait, that expression is a not a very good translation. Virgil knew it was unlikely to work. Knowing this, Virgil waded through tides with weights on his wrists. He knew that he needed Dee’s help to get rid of Dei’dra for good.

Dee smiled at him, the artificial side of his face rising much too high than the original.

“Follow me for a moment, would you?”

Dee led Virgil to a small part of the lab. In a lower cabinet, the doors were held shut by a small square device, a padlock. Dee brought out of his pocket a tiny dull blade with irregular edges, a key, and shoved it into the device, and the doors opened unhindered; Virgil had not seen such a thing before.

“I have been working on this for a while.” Dee said as he brought out a pistol of some kind. “There’s all sorts of weird programming with my lasers that messes with my targeting system when I try to shoot Dei’dra with them. Figured something like this would do the trick.”

“—I’ll do it.” Virgil said, almost too quickly. “You go on ahead and escape.”

Dee’s head swung back, like he was bitten by something. “Oh yeah, that’s totally a good idea. I bet you’ve had so much experience shooting guns.”

Virgil reached for the gun. “Trust me, I can do this. Who knows what she’ll do to you before you get the chance to shoot her? She could deactivate your entire circulatory system at the press of a button for all I know!”

“Nope, nope nope nope. My gun, my rules. You’re the one who needs to high tail it out of here—you’re free.” Dee’s green eye stared at him, lifelessly stoic. But looking at the other side of his face, Virgil saw something there—he could not quite explain how he saw it, a subtle set of lines that depicted a punch to the chest. “You did,” Dee’s eyes dropped down to the device in his chest, “deactivate it, didn’t you?”

“Of course I did—I’m not stupid.” Virgil was speaking fast; this conversation was going way too fast.

Dee accepted Virgil’s word, not thinking at all that Virgil would ever lie to him. Of course, Dee lied to people all the time, that was nothing new. He always had reason to lie. Virgil, on the outside, never looked like he did.

“It looks like both of us want the same thing. If you insist, we’ll both do it. I have an idea.”

Looking to the side, Virgil connected his limbs together, holding the ends and interlacing the roots in an intricate web. Dee reached towards him and set his hand on Virgil’s shoulder—so lightly, Virgil could barely tell they were genuinely touching.

But for a brief second, Virgil heard something—no, sensed.

Something between a goodbye and a thank you.

It wouldn’t have hurt so much if Virgil had not lied to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I quite liked the dialogue in this chapter for once! 
> 
> Question of the day: What are your favorite sander sides headcanons?


	24. 00011000

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil had time to kill.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characters: Janus a Virgil, the Dragon Witch,
> 
> Warnings: violence, gun, swearing (F-word)

00011000

 ~~Virgil had time to kill~~.

Beyond the nonexistent wall, evergreen grey clouds lazily sailed across the sky, casting the red planet in ash. Suspended by steel beam strings, stirring with vibrations, Virgil held himself up and away, but he might as well have been sinking into water. As if he was falling away in his sleep, weightless and heavy, Virgil was washed away by his own musings: a narrative, whispered to him through violin strings and electric hums.

Flecks of ash outside, particles free, reflected the tiny cotton flecks that floated in the deep purple green field and forest. Ivy stretched across the ground, an army stationed and overtaking the dirt. Like deafened bells, trickling water glided along the glistening light, plonking thudded notes into the air.

>> ~~Everything used to be a Single-thing.~~ >>It was “Yes” or “Truth” or “Life” >>millennia upon millennia ago. >>A monarch, not a creator or mother, >>that burst into a network kingdom, >>and gave life to everything. >>What was once a singular ‘yes,’ >>An absorption of all color, >>shattered through a prism— >>—it was decided that no more could be wrought from a Single-thing.

Virgil decided that was all he could translate, as he could not find the right words to describe the nuanced, intuitive ideas he had in his mind. He could paint the sunset in his mind, but Common words felt like pennies—useless clumps of copper.

He wondered what would become of him when he died—did that Single-thing die when it was split into pieces? Might he fracture, useless as broken glass, but each piece having a shape and form, translucent structures to refract light, but nonsensical in their execution?

Or would the device burn through him, letting his ashes fly out the window like the snows of June that rain from cottonwood trees? Bits, static to filter from the air, and blend into the useless dust we forget?

At least if his bluff holds, something good would arise, make sense of scattered signals, and create something from the absence of Dei’dra’s evil.

At least if—at least if—a fragment of thought, without topic or idea, repeating in the webs and strands of Virgil’s mind, a buffering bluff like a puff of air, stretching thin in search of sunlight.

Superimposing a fable onto his present state, Virgil searched inside himself for a Single-thing, or nothing at all to guide him. He wandered back to the escape pod, from which he sprouted up from, like a seed, but only to be met with arid dusk and periodic blinks of stars. He could feel that past self dead amidst the tree rings, himself the new growth shielding it from the light.

In his tiny white geometric planter box, staring off into space, Virgil sang his heart aloud, singing fables and poems he remembered from his family, his mind filling his gaze with soft cotton particles floating and rivers tickling the ivories.

Dei’dra did not open the door into her office. Dee did.

Listening, waiting patiently, Dee could feel what Virgil was saying, but could not hear it.

When the lighting in the room changed, a cloud covering the window, Dee traversed the room and met Virgil’s dazed eyes.

Room silent again, Dee asked, “Is it ready?” Dee did not understand the specifics, but he got the gist of what Virgil was planning to do—all they needed to do was get information into the right hands, find a hole to burrow through, tarnish a good name and persuade them for her arrest.

Before Virgil could say yes, Dei’dra entered the room.

>>Enter

“Well, good day my pretty little houseplant, what have you been up to?”

The lights flickered off.

Rancid petrichor seized the lightless white walls, an inaudible buzz simmering.

Cracks trickled through the room.

Lightning streaked across the red carpet and white walls, launching towards Dei’dra.

Crackling red, Virgil crashed at Dei’dra’s feet.

Silence mutated into a shriek. Like sirens, Dei’dra laughed, red and blue eyes flashing.

Caving in on itself, Dei’dra’s visage twisted and turned, folded and crinkled, teeth baring and glistening. Transparent.

She stared down at Virgil. Limbs like branches in a tempest, he stood up.

Huffing, Virgil pushed against the pain, failing, screaming, trembling.

“What a fucking idiot,” She snarled.

Blinded by a red flash of light, Dee did not think at all—all he could see was the device embedded inside Virgil’s chest and Dei’dra’s crystal sharp grin.

A flicker of a gun barrel aimed at Dei’dra’s skull.

A gunshot.

The lights turned back on.

Muffled radio alerts.

The device scattered across the floor and inside Virgil’s chest.

...

“Good job, I suppose, Doll.” Dei’dra’s voice was steady and low, dressed in business casual.

“Didn’t let me have my fun, but go off, I guess. Dispose of the body: Can’t have dirt staining the carpet.”

Dei’dra turned around and left the office as if none of that even happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have had a busy week! We are very close to the end of this story, but there is a series.  
> Question of the day: What just happened? What was your reaction?


	25. 00011001

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Information leaked, Virgil shot out of his planter, a panicked attempt at fighting for his life. Dei'dra pressed a button, activating the device in his chest, to punish him for his disobedience. 
> 
> $DEE had a choice:  
> kill Dei'dra  
> or stop the device from killing Virgil,  
> by shooting him instead.  
> Dee made the choice,  
> but now he must live with the betrayal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characters: Janus, Virgil, the Dragon Witch, Logan and Roman  
> Warnings: Injury, shock, pain, trauma, body horror  
> In the summary I included a recap of last chapter since it was confusing. I wrote it in a confusing way because all of that happened really fast, so it was hard to keep track of everything that happened, which was an essential part of Virgil's experience of the event. Since the summaries of this story are technically not part of 'Virgil's story' I felt like I could clarify it there.

00011001

The smell of fresh cut flowers. A sticky sweet slithering down his throat, burrowing in his stomach and striking at his rib cage. He tumbled down at Virgil’s side, haphazardly lifting him up in his panic. His artificial eye was blurry and cutting out.

Numb, Virgil was outside his body, unaware of what had happened. Dee ran off with his body, and all Virgil could see was the window.

He counted the pieces on the ground, and when he was done, he was back and looking up at Dee.

“What happened?! You said the tracker was deactivated!”

It could have been a cough or a laugh, “I was able to leak her data, the rest did not matter.”

Virgil counted the devices in his chest again, agony slowly creeping behind him. The gunshot echoed in his mind. Dee carried him with ease, like a gardener transplanting a sapling.

Virgil, the barrel of the pistol etched in his roots, quietly asked, “How could you?”

Dee, scoffed, half his face twisting into a maze.

“You lied to me—what did you expect to happen?”

Dee stopped running, slapped his hand on a keypad, and opened the door.

All Virgil saw was the escape pod, fire and red, a burning planet, a mockery of stars. He squirmed, he clawed at Dee’s chest, begging him no. 

Dee could not make out what Virgil was saying, but Dee held his torso still and yelled at him to stop.

Dee shoved him into the ship, slammed it closed, some roots caught in the door, and shot it off into space like a garbage disposal.

Dee watched the ship breach the orange sky. Traced the smoke tails. Silent. 

Dee tried to recall what that song was, that Virgil sang, but could only remember a chunk of it, repeating itself in his desert mind. He could feel the purple sky in his mind shatter like glass. Frozen in his thoughts, waiting for daylight to thaw.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the TSUU ship settle in front of the building. He wandered over to the control panel and let them inside, ending the siege.

$DEE for a second went on guard when he heard Dei’dra’s laughter—it did not sound like the laughter from before, it sounded almost like a sob.

A large, amphibian looking man, a pale marble statue swimming through the room he was in. A human trailing in after him, searching.

They looked at him, readying their weapons, Dee held his hands up in surrender.

“Project $DEE?” the human asked.

“That’s me,” he lied.

“Where is he?”

“Don’t know,” he lied.

Dee blanked out for a second, and they parted ways. He was at Lab C. He blinked.

His knees hit the ground, his body crumpling like a marionette, wires cut, and chest gutted.

He rested his head against metal, a loud clang as the pain thundered in his skull from the impact.

He lied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story has 27 chapters in total, and this is chapter 25. Since this is a series, the ending to this story has loose ends.
> 
> Question of the day: What do you like to cook/bake/make? I like making brunch: eggs, toast, scones, breads, etc. The other day I made crumpets!


	26. 00011010

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life goes on for the rest of the universe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characters: Mention of Dei’dra and other characters anonymously
> 
> Warnings: mention of smuggling, medical recall, exploitation, unethical business practices

00011010

**DRACANA TECHNOLOGIES EXPOSED: “These ‘projects’ of hers, they had to be stopped”**

Multiple informants, whose names will not be mentioned for their own safety, approached the TSUU last week with information regarding the secret and unethical experiments carried out by the DRACANA company. Previously renown as a reputable and charitable medical company specializing in cybernetics, it was revealed that the CEO Jamila Illiams had been smuggling and harboring persons of various alienraces and species for her research, holding them captive to harvest or study various biological features.

There had been numerous missing persons reports on the former human colony Ravenna, such as one of 12-year-old girl Lo’valine. Her kidnapping case had gone cold, but it was reopened when DNA matching close relatives was found in one of Jamila Illiams’s databases. Lo’valine was used to develop advanced versions of DRACANA’s artificial skin, to increase its durability and strength. There is debate on whether a full recall on DRACANA skin implants is necessary, but it is unclear which versions of their artificial skin were created from Lo’valine’s exploitation.

Many of DRACANA’s ‘acts of charity’ have been put into question. It was revealed that many of these cases included both Illaims’s personal business rivals and political rivals of the Abstra, the alienrace to which rumors suggest Jamila Illiams belongs. She has not released a formal statement on her birthplace. There is a long list of cases that were reported on in the news in which DRACANA paid for a person’s full recovery after an accident. Many thought that most of these cases lived happily ever after, but evidence has been found that many of the journalists reporting the recovery of these patients were either bribed or given fake information regarding the lives of the people she ‘helped’.

One of the informants was reported saying, “These ‘projects’ of hers, they had to be stopped.” In his interview, he reported that, while he worked there, he encountered some people from planets that had experienced a lot of turmoil in recent decades. At first, he said he thought, “they were given an opportunity to do good work, despite their pasts. But as I saw red flag after red flag, it occurred to me that he—these people were not there by their free will. And some, I only saw glimpses of, before never seeing them again.”

Illiams has been taken into custody, and her trial is scheduled for next month. Many are accusing the TSUU of sabotage, but many more are concerned by the possibility of their life-sustaining medical treatment being a result of unethical practices. Regardless, it is instances like these that make us wonder how much evil can fall under the radar when the universe is so vast and ever expanding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Question of the day: What would you like to dress up as for Halloween?
> 
> My best friend and I are going to be camp Unus Annus!  
> (You can answer with what you actually are dressing up in or what you would actually like to dress up as)
> 
> This is the second to last chapter! After this story, I plan on posting one or two oneshot stories before continuing the main storyline with... Cosmic Latte! (a coffee shop au... IN SPACE!) I will post a more detailed plan for the series on tumblr after I post the final chapter. My schedule will also probably change from once a week 
> 
> [I am thesarcasticside on tumblr!](https://thesarcasticside.tumblr.com/)  
> (Jamila Illiams is a fake name btw)
> 
> (Also, writing in the style of a news article was hard! XD)


	27. 00011011

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introducing, Remus, a brother of the current Prince of Rhodorium, which is actually not all that remarkable given his circumstances.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characters: Virgil, Remus
> 
> Warnings: pain, near-death experience, swearing, medical treatment

00011011

Virgil could barely think beyond the pain. The device that plagued him was in pieces, shrapnel scattered throughout his body. Every bit burned. He could name each piece if he tried. He could give coordinates of every single one of them. His body was rejecting them. Pushing them to the surface, but their sharp edges cut his roots. He could not focus on the stars zooming in streams of lights around him. He could not focus on the fire erupting from the acceleration. He could not even look at the fast approaching planet in front of him.

After all that surviving, this was it? Virgil could at least rest knowing that he had brought down Dei’dra with him—if his faith in Roman and _Thomas_ was strong enough to believe that she would not squirm her way out of it.

He could hear the flowers by his ears screaming, singing like violin strings and cymbals feathered with a brush. He closed his eyes and let the planet shatter him.

He did not think he would wake up again, but here he was.

Virgil was familiar with the look of medical bays. They were not much different than labs in his mind, though he hardly ever really visited the one that Dei’dra had in headquarters. He expected to be strapped to a table, but Virgil was surprised to be laying comfortably in a hospital bed.

A large, amphibian-looking man stood over him. When Virgil’s sensors noticed him, Virgil immediately tensed, bringing in a shower of pain all over his body. This reminded Virgil to take an inventory. He could feel his limbs, he counted the strands that weaved his body together. Many were broken apart; most were healing together. There was even some new growth.

He’d felt worse, which surprised Virgil.

“You’re awake!” The man grinned at him: way too wide, unsettling. His large grinning face was a dark olive green and brown. His small round eyes were surrounded by purple eyelids. The man was looking at him so intently, Virgil felt unbelievably exposed. A multitude of frilly stocks surrounded his head like a mane. He wore colorful black and green scrubs, with strange pictures on his shirt.

“Oh, uh, do you not speak Common or something?” He waved his hand in front of Virgil’s face.

Virgil coughed, “I speak.” His voice was gruff and scratchy, painful. He could barely move, weak. “Where am I?” He tried to say, but it only really sounded like “Where?” before the rest died out.

“Your escape pod crashed…” The man paused for a second, counting on his hands “A week ago. I went to scavenge, but you looked like you were still alive. I took you back here. This is my medical room, but the rest of the place is a junkyard. Figured that if I was going to take your ship apart, might as well put you back together.” Virgil stared, trying his hardest to absorb his every word.

“It was pretty fun. Never seen someone quite like you before. You’re like—” The man scavenged for the memory in his mind “There was this giant Phogzoill I fought off last year that had stowed away on a merc’s ship I was repairing. Didn’t know how the guy didn’t notice that, but it was cool. Full of vines and shit.”

That was a first. Virgil was a bit offended.

“When I shot it to bits, it was stringy like mozzarella. You aren’t slimy at all though, so probably not all that similar.”

Virgil just stared at him, blinking at him with a look that begged him to move on.

“You can call me Remus. You called anything?”

“Virgil.”

“Vir-gil. Virrrrrr-gil. That’s fun.” He shimmied a bit as he turned around. He brought to Virgil’s line of sight a cart, with bits of electronic components scattered all over the top of it.

And suddenly, Virgil realized something was missing in his chest.

He swept his hands over his bare torso. He could feel a deep divot in his chest. He traced the lines that sunk into him. A bleeding pain reached his fingertips, and he groaned and moved them away from the hole in his body.

“I sure hope this wasn’t important or anything. It’s in pieces now. Couldn’t tell if it was a cannon ball or a life alert.”

And then relief hit him. He could not find a trace of the device anywhere on him. He felt like he was bleeding out, parts of him missing, but he felt elated by its absence.

“Good fucking riddance.” He said.

“Damn, you sound cool. All gravelly and shit, like a beaxolotl singing jazz.”

Virgil, while his mind was foggy and out of it, began to feel at ease.

“So, I figured that you would not care if I took your ship as payment for my medical services. Probably stolen anyway or something. You’ve got somewhere to be or something?”

Virgil shook his head no. He had nowhere he had to be. He was free.

He closed his eyes 

and slept 

for what felt like millennia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there it is! I suppose a few comments on my end are in order.
> 
> This story is just a beginning of the series! There are a lot of loose ends. I haven't even introduced Patton yet lol. 
> 
> Dee has a companion story planned and the rest of the characters have stories planned, and I put the link to the full plan on tumblr. I have not made up my mind on whether or not this series will feature romance (LAMP, Dukeceit, Remile), but there is room for it if it happens. My posting schedule is switching to monthly, but you can follow me on tumblr for any updates in between. 
> 
> On tumblr I have two posts relevant to the series: [A longer version of this endnote.](https://thesarcasticside.tumblr.com/post/632418893391183872/in-other-worlds-author-note-that-got-way-too) [A longer explanation of the plans for the series (list of stories).](https://thesarcasticside.tumblr.com/post/632418887701577728/in-other-worlds-series-plan)
> 
> [I am thesarcasticside on tumblr!](https://thesarcasticside.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Question of the day: In the words of the wise simplynailogical: whaddya think?


End file.
